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SEQUEL 

TO 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 

AND CHARING CROSS. 




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SEQUEL 

TO 

SOME GLIMPSES 

INTO 

LIFE 

IN THE 

FAR EAST. 

y/ 8 

BY J. T: THOMSON, F.R.G.S. 

AUTHOR OF "SOME GLIMPSES INTO LIFE IN THE FAR EAST.*' 

\ 




LONDON: 
RICHARDSON & COMPANY, 23, CORNHILL. 

1865. 

[The right of Translation is reserved.'] 



CONTENTS. 



chaptp:r page 
I. — The Anglo-Indian Alligator and the Anglo- 
Saxon Flies .. .. .. .. 1 

II. — The Aboriginal Mind .. .. .. 34 

III. — The Malay Amok .. .. .. .. 48 

IV. — Slavery .. .. .. .. .. 58 

V. — Polygamy .. .. .. .. .. .. 65 

VI. — Mahomedan Proselytism .. «. .. 75 

VII. — Christian Missionaries .. .. .. .. 141 

VIII. — The Civil Service .. .. .. .. 217 

IX. — The Uncovenanted .. .. .. ..224 

X. — Malay Governments 400 Years Ago .. 236 
XI. — Native Governments at this Present Time .. 248 

XII. — The Mystery .. .. .. .. .. 263 

XIII. — The Anglo-Indian Connection .. .. .. 290 

XIV. — Service Reform .. .. .. .. 306 



PREFACE. 



In my Preface to " Grlimpses into Life in the Far 
East," I stated that if that work should be deemed 
worthy of public attention, I would bring out a 
second volume. Months went past, and I was held 
in suspense. The booksellers objected to place an 
anonymous book upon their shelves, and I could 
not find fault with their hesitation ; for I felt that 
a work without the guarantee of a name could, at 
the outset of its existence, command but small 
claims to confidence. At the same time my antici- 
pations of financial success were moderate : I was 
content to obtain a few hundred readers ; and my 
ambition was that my readers should peruse the 
work with attention, and carefully consider the 
various subjects on which it treated. 

In many of the sketches contained in my first 
volume, it was my lot to act as censor. I there- 
fore felt that I had no right to expect tenderness 
from such critics as might honour my book with 
their notice. The sketches, I must confess, had more 



viii 



PREFACE. 



attention given them by several of the metropolitan 
magazines than I had ventured to anticipate, and 
the bias being decidedly against me, I have no 
reason to complain of their acute dissections. 
Amongst the hundred and more new works that at 
the same time passed under the review of those 
leviathan dictators of the literary world, mine 
appears to have had impartial justice meted out to 
it. ISTo patent chaff-cutting machines could be 
more equal in their operations in mincing literary 
fodder into inches. 

My critics have very generally pointed out my 
carelessness of style. To this I would reply, that 
the sketches in my first volume pretended only to 
be rough daubs, taken from nature. A professional 
portrayer of character or events would, no doubt, 
have been more tasteful, at some sacrifice of truth. # 
One authoritative critic complains of the shortness 
of my chapters. To this I would reply, that I am 
glad he did not feel them to be too long. I must 
confess that I had much more to say on many sub- 
jects ; but, under the circumstances, I considered 
brevity to be desirable : I felt that an anonymous 
writer ought not, by his prolixity, to trespass on 
the patience of his good-natured readers. On sub- 
jects of delicacy, I etched with all the boldness 
that I dared ; but, in many cases, I had to forbear, 

* I must here ask the Oriental scholar to forgive errors in the native 
quotations, as I was not in a position to correct the press in the former 
volume, nor am I able to do so in the present. 



PEEFACE. 



ix 



as the genius and refinements of modern English 
taste forbade me to pursue such subjects to their 
end. 

In issuing this " Sequel to Life in the Far East," 
I have been encouraged by partial friends who have 
perused the manuscript, and I have not been dis- 
couraged by the criticisms of the London Press on 
my first volume. My learned censors have in no 
case given tokens of impatience, and some show 
evidence of having perused my chapters attentively. 
I trust that my critics of the first volume will now 
look upon me as having "paid my footing" and will 
deign to treat me with less distrust. In these days, 
when almost every man and woman writes either a 
book or a pamphlet at least once in his or her life- 
time, it would seem to be a superfluous task for 
an anonymous author to drop his copper mite 
amidst the golden talents ; but I have an apology 
for the intrusion : I have seen a good deal of life, 
in all its phases, in many parts of the world. It 
is true that literature has not been my profession 
(as my critics readily perceived), but my experiences 
have been varied. After leaving my native country 
(England), I sojourned for many years in South- 
eastern Asia, and since then I have visited many 
parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the British 
temperate colonies, in which peregrinations I have 
mingled with all classes of society, under circum. 
stances most varied. The experiences thus gained 
formed vivid contrasts in the path of life, and have 



X 



PREFACE. 



naturally led me, in my moments of repose, to rumi- 
nate over past events, and to recall my observations 
on man as he develops himself under the ever- 
changing influences of climate, and of varying social 
conditions. 

Meadows tells us, that before he wrote his work 
on China, he climbed to the tops of the pyramid of 
Cheops, from whence he scanned all Egypt. When 
meditating over past scenes, I have imagined myself 
looking at them, as Meadows scanned the Delta, 
from the far distance. Though separated for many 
years from East India, I feel bound to it by the 
strong ties of early associations ; and in this volume 
it has been my endeavour to give a simple expo- 
sition of my views on several topics connected with 
the social and political systems there. 

The gentle reader must not think that I flatter 
myself on having seen much life. To see life, it is 
not necessary to leave England. The inner core of 
society is best studied there. There humanity is 
seen in perfection, — there its structure is most deli- 
cately elaborated, — its nerves are most sensitive, — its 
powers most extensive, — its aspirations most noble — 
its fall most sordid, — its misfortunes most harrow- 
ing. The savage or half-civilized man is more 
obtuse — more blunt in all things : his nerves are not 
so delicately strung. The phases of life in him do 
not present such vivid contrasts ; but there is one 
thing the observer may gain by travel, and that is, 
freedom from narrow prejudice — more just views 



PREFACE. xi 

regarding men of other races, and more especially 
in regard to races under the tropics. He will more 
readily perceive the causes which maintain prin- 
ciples in social polity at variance with his own. 
He will see that nature delights in variety, — that 
the condition of the world and its races of men con- 
tinually vary, and with these the political circum- 
stances vary, and demand constant watchfulness. 
The untiring energy of the Englishman at home 
leads him to attempt the task of moulding all races 
under his dominion in his own model : the travelled 
Englishman perceives that nature opposes this con- 
summation. History tells us that whenever princes 
have doggedly determined to mould their subjects 
to an unvarying system of government or religious 
persuasion, destruction has come upon them. All 
communities of interest, whether tribal or national, 
are held together by mutual concessions, ever vary- 
ing in circumstances and directions. Rulers, there- 
fore, must study the signs of the times. 

There have been numerous writers on the Far 
East, from Marco Polo and Sir John de Mandeville 
downwards, but I need here only mention some of 
the modern writers. I have always considered 
Captain Forrest to be the father of Far Eastern 
historic voyagers. He was another Dampier. His 
numerous expeditions, and erratic enterprises, vied 
in boldness and equalled in adventure the more 
extensive wanderings of the illustrious buccanier. 

Marsden, the Malay grammarian, has given 



xii 



PREFACE. 



much interesting matter in his " History of Suma- 
tra." His descriptions of the social system of the 

Malavs on the West Coast of that Island afford 
1/ 

many subjects deserving of thoughtful considera- 
tion. His minute details of the different modes of 
marriage and concubinage which exist there, one 
would have thought should have served as a beacon 
to warn the papas and mammas of old England 
against consigning their " Young Hopefuls" to in- 
fluences in the Far East so contrary to their own 
moral principles. 

Sir Stamford Baffles has attained celebrity even 
in Europe. In the Ear East he was better known 
as a compiler and absorber of the labours of others. 
His knowledge of native literature was superficial, 
but he made himself useful to the savans of Eng- 
land by his collections of curiosities — animal, vege- 
table, and mineral. The selection of Singapore as a 
trading port has been attributed to him, though 
the credit was also claimed by a distinguished officer 
of the Company's service, viz., Colonel Earquhar. 
When Governor of Java, his ultra-liberalism led 
him indiscreetly to alter the ancient system of 
landed tenures, which involved his government in 
financial difficulties, and for many succeeding years 
caused undue pressure on his successors — the Dutch- 
government of Netherlands India. 

Crawfurd, a contemporary of Baffles — a living 
record of the past — will always hold a distinguished 
position, whether as a historian, lexicographer, or 



PREFACE. xiii 

ethnologist — honest, dogmatical, laborious, acute, 
and searching. The numerous writings of this 
great man will long illustrate many important 
branches of knowledge in the Far East. It is dan- 
gerous to oppose the judgment of such a man ; yet, 
on a very material point I am constrained to differ 
from him. Crawfurd, like most covenanted servants 
of the late East India Company, dilated much on 
the " intemperance," " avarice/' " rapacity," " vio- 
lence," and " injustice " of Europeans in India, — 
these Europeans in India being no other than his 
own countrymen. Forty years ago it was con- 
sidered to be true policy on the part of the mono- 
polizing East India Company to vilify their country- 
men, and exclude them. This subject is so closely 
connected with my present theme, that, in men- 
tioning Crawfurd, I could not avoid noticing it. 
During my long residence in the East, I observed 
many and long-continued examples of the above 
artificial prejudices, practically carried out. The 
dissolution of the East India Company, and the 
more close connection that is now maintained by 
steam between England and India, have, no doubt, 
during these last six years, worked wonders in 
breaking the unholy fetters riveted by the scions of 
a bygone monopoly. 

Of other writers, such as Earle, Newbold, Begbie, 
Davidson, Anderson, Keppel, Brooke, Macmeikan, 
&c, I need not say anything further than that each 
has furnished a good quota of information regard- 



xiv 



PKEFACE. 



ing their times ; but it would be an unpardonable 
oversight were I not to pay a passing tribute, in- 
sufficient as it may be, to the unwearied labours of 
Mr. J. R. Logan, whose writings on various 
scientific subjects are widely known ; and I hope 
that time, health, and opportunity will be vouchsafed 
to him to bring before the world the results of his 
long-continued and extensive inquiries into the 
ethnology and philology of mankind in Asia and 
Polynesia. 

In this present volume I have little of incident 
to relate : my attention has been confined to short 
essays, and translations, on social topics. In hand- 
ling the different subjects, my endeavour has been 
to scan them with a bird's-eye view. I can never 
be connected with India again, so I hope my views 
and opinions will appear to be disinterested. I 
have endeavoured to treat my topics fearlessly ; and, 
though the details be incomplete, the whole effect 
of the picture will, I trust, be allowed to be true. 

Regarding the fourth and fifth chapters of this 
volume, viz., <£ Slavery " and " Polygamy," there 
never will be a concurrence of sentiment amongst 
mankind. More than 2,000 years ago the Grecian 
philosopher Socrates had demonstrated that " All 
things are produced contraries from contraries."* Hu- 
man sentiment (cceteris paribus) will fluctuate between 
these two extremes. In the material world, heat is the 



* See " Pha^do, 42, Plato's Works." 



PREFACE. 



xv 



contrary of cold — height is the contrary of depth. 
In the mental world, pride is the contrary of 
humility — in the moral world, virtue is the con- 
trary of depravity ; and between these contraries 
there will be constant vacillation, constant recipro- 
cation, the one giving off its properties to the other: 
constant alteration, as the vapours ascend to the 
clouds but to return to the earth again. On man- 
kind the temperate zones induce energy — the 
torrid zone, apathy. The former is the c< habitat " 
of the white man; the latter that of the black man. 
In the middle distance there is constant tendency to 
mingle ; but remove either to his opposite, and he 
dies out : for a generation or two only can either be 
propagated out of his contrary zone. Between 
these extremes, however, there are constant attrac- 
tions as powerful as between the poles of a galvanic 
battery; attractions induced not alone by the differ- 
ences of climate, products, and commodities, but by 
the differences of social condition — boldness and its 
contrary, timidity — strength and its contrary, weak- 
ness. These opposing influences cause men to in- 
termingle from equator to pole — conquering here — - 
being conquered there. The bolder of the north 
overcoming the weaker of the south — conquering 
but for a period — mingling but to imbibe the sur- 
rounding weakening influences — or to die out. 

In the temperate zones virtue has a meaning — 
in the torrid, it has none. It is not known. The 
virtue of the Romans, even, was not the virtue of 



xvi PREFACE. 

the Britons. Freedom and virtue go together; they 
are bound hand to hand by bonds the most power- 
ful ; so, also, slavery and the degradation of women 
go together. Opposite principles are indigenous to 
opposite zones. Any radical change of principle 
can only be partial. The pure Englishwoman in 
India, by the force of her character, maintains her 
privileges for one generation, it may be for two ge- 
nerations ; but her descendants at length give way 3 
and acquiesce in the habits of those who surround 
them. 

England now acts as if she had never been a 
slaveholder, yet it is only thirty-six years ago that 
I, with thousands of others, signed a petition to the 
British Parliament that she should abolish slavery 
within her wide dominions * * * * will this be for 
ever ? Or will her close relations with her tropical 
possessions change first her interests, and then her 
sentiments ? Or will the modern agencies of steam 
and a free press cause her to rise superior to those 
influences which have hitherto governed the world ? 
If there be danger, is it not better that she should 
loosen the chains ? What has made Burton, the 
great African traveller, an advocate of polygamy ?* 
Is it that his long residence amongst tropical influ- 
ences has undermined the virtue of the original in- 
domitable Briton? 

Slavery and polygamy are so intimately con- 



See " Jour. Geographical Society, 1863." 



PREFACE. 



xvii 



nected, that, in treating of them, they cannot be 
disjoined. They are necessary to each other. 

Some of the material and physiological conditions 
which propagate and maintain these institutions, 
and their contraries, may be put down as follows : — 

Slavery and Polygamy. Freedom and Monogamy. 

Enervating climates, Bracing climates, 

Rich oases, Wide plains, 

Ignorance, Knowledge, 

Weakness. Strength. 

results, — 

Decay. Conservation. 

Men in opposite zones accept opposite con- 
ditions, and each supports the view he was born to 
by arguments not convincing to the other. Man 
goes to war in the middle distance to support 
opposite principles. 

In the sixth and seventh subjects, viz., " Mahome- 
dan Proselytism " and "Christian Missionaries," T 
have endeavoured to provide illustrations of the 
contraries in religion. It will be seen, by reference 
to any physical atlas, that the stronghold of the 
polygamic Mahomedan faith is in the hottest region 
of the world, viz., the Red Sea — its capital being 
Mecca — and the stronghold of the monogamic 
Christain faith, it will be admitted, is in the most 
temperate region of the world, viz., North-western 
Europe. Between these two contraries there has 
been constant warfare of sentiment in the middle 
distance. The different faiths uphold opposite 

b 



xviii 



PREFACE. 



practices genial to their climates. The Mahomedan 
accepts the position of woman as a degraded one ; 
the Christian upholds her in an honourable equality. 
The Mahomedan avoids stimulating liquors, injuri- 
ous in his climate ; the Christian partakes of them 
as useful in his. The Mahomedan avoids the flesh 
of certain of the grosser animals ; the Christian 
partakes of it with advantage. These contrarieties 
maintain a mutual misunderstanding, and the op- 
ponent faiths meet, but to war and to overturn — 
to mingle, or to die out. The Christian, settling 
beyond the boundaries of his natural "habitat," 
deteriorates in the pure principles and practices of 
his peculiar region. In Abyssinia and Mexico his 
practices cling to those of the contrary faith — his 
moral condition becomes tropical. Pure Christian- 
ity, in the English sense of the term, has withered 
there. Christianity, more or less pure, had, a 
thousand years ago, penetrated all over Asia, and 
much of Africa, but only to die out or deteriorate. 
Christianity has never been the same in all regions ; 
persuasions differ even at home ; they differ still more 
abroad, till the similarity is no longer recognizable. 
The highest development of Christianity is only 
attainable by a few. Man is but the mirror of the 
Creator. As he is pure, so does he reflect this image 
unimpaired — as he is filthy, so is the reflection 
deadened and distorted. Then it may be asked, 
Why attempt to propagate a system which experience 
shows cannot be maintained pure in all regions for 



PREFACE. 



xix 



ever ? To this I would reply, Why do men take 
fire to the Arctic regions ? Is it not to warm their 
shivering limbs ? And why do men take ice to the 
tropics ? Is it not to cool their fevered lips ? We 
may as well abandon the lights on a stormy rock- 
bound coast because the oil requires replenishing. 
As well abandon any good work, because labourers 
in it must be constant, as abandon the carrying 
of English Christianity to all regions. " All 
things are produced contraries from contraries/' and 
when this law of nature ceases, then will the 
Christian's mission have ended — then will there be 
no longer the war of the elements, the struggle of 
opponent faiths and practices. The mission of the 
Christian is a great one ; it has taught the savage 
cannibal Maori to cry out in the heat of deadly 
warfare, " If I conquer, I will treat the prisoners 
kindly — the dead with respect." The mission of the 
Christian is more onerous than I dare to contem- 
plate ; for his personal influence is everywhere 
necessary — he must never be absent. 

The translations from native authors I trust that 
the reader will find interesting, and that he will not 
fail to detect singular differences in them. The 
writings of the Mahomedan Apostle of Keddah are 
genuine and characteristic. They lay bare the re- 
ligious polity of the Moslem, and, at the same time, 
the besetting sins and weaknesses of the children of 
passion, amongst whom he labours. In his writings 
we perceive the Mahomedan apostle, rude as the un- 

b 2 



XX 



PREFACE. 



cultivated thistle — bold as the stump -orator of the 
Ear West. His faith, like the quill of the porcupine, 
pierces or is crushed. It is like the wild waste 
thorn, it opposes till trodden down under the feet. 

The Arab missionary, in depicting the besetting 
sins of the natives of the Ear East, especially dilates 
on liawa nafsu (sensuality). He would level this 
mountain, but he labours without hope. In his 
forcible pictures of the crime and immorality of the 
people, he indignantly assails " beauty." He cries, 
" this comes of beauty !" And why should beauty 
have this stigma cast upon it ? a Western reader 
might ask,- — Does it not embellish the virtues of the 
possessor, as the flower decorates the graceful stalk ? 
The answer may be given, that beauty in the tropics 
has not the high functions which it exercises amidst 
the family circles of the temperate zone ; it ministers 
but to lascivious desires ; it is hidden from sight 
with the jealousy of an ill-gotten treasure ; it is sold 
only to stimulate the surfeited appetites of the 
wealthy. It is not permitted to illuminate the out- 
ward world ; for it would fire the hearts of the 
slaves of God. Hence the stigma cast on beauty 
by the Mahomedan missionary. 

In the writings of the Indo-Malay, Abdulla, the 
observant reader will readily perceive the influence 
of the English missionary. His book, though 
written in Malay, was intended for the European 
reader, whose higher morality, intelligence, and 
power, Abdulla had learnt to respect. Although 



PREFACE. 



xxi 



lie lived and died a Mahomedan, he was held in bad 
odour by his co-religionists ; and his open condemn- 
ation of the depravity of native rulers would have 
rendered his life insecure beyond the protection of 
the British crown. His lamentations on the fallen 
condition of his countrymen are touching, and his 
hopes for their elevation are nil. 

While considering these translations, I would 
desire to say a few words regarding a remarkable 
revolution now going on in China ; and, for this 
purpose I have extracted, in as succinct a manner 
as I am able, the necessary information from the 
work of Mr. Meadows, published in 1856. That 
author informs us that Hung-seu-tseuen, the origin- 
ator and acknowledged chief of the present religious 
political insurrection in China, is the youngest son 
of a poor peasant proprietor (he may yet be living 
as far as I know). His friends established him as a 
village schoolmaster, with the view of his pursuing 
literary studies, so as to prepare him for the public 
examinations. In this object of his and his friends' 
ambition, however, he was never successful, as he 
could not pass the decisive examination conducted by 
the provincial examiner. On one of his visits to 
Canton, in the year 1833, he met a native Protestant 
convert and preacher, named Leang-a-fah, from 
whom he received a collection of tracts, which con- 
sisted of essays and extracts from the Bible. Hung- 
seu-tseuen took these home with him, glanced them 
over, and put them into his book-case. In 1837 he 



xxii 



PKEFACE. 



was again unsuccessful in his endeavour to pass the 
required examinations, so he was deeply disappointed 
and fell sick. During a long-continued sickness he 
had a succession of dreams and visions. The de- 
tails of these I need not extract further than to state 
that in one of them he saw a man whom he called 
his elder brother, and from whom he obtained in- 
structions to search to the uttermost regions for evil 
spirits, and to exterminate them. 

He got well again, and, in the year 1843, he fell 
in with some further Christian tracts, the former 
having been forgotten. These corresponded in a 
remarkable manner with what he saw and heard in 
his dreams and visions (no doubt the impress of the 
former tracts of Leang-a-fah on the memory). 
The demons were the idols of his country, the 
brothers and sisters were the people of the world. 
He now rejoiced that he had found a way to heaven, 
and a sure hope of eternity and happiness. He and 
a friend named Le baptized each other, in the 
manner in which they were taught by the Christian 
tracts : they then commenced to preach. 

Hung-seu-tseuen, seeing that the Christian tracts 
corresponded in a striking manner with his former 
visions, was confirmed in their truth, and concluded 
that to himself was given the work of restoring the 
worship of the True God. In the chapters taken 
from the psalmists and prophets, descriptions of the 
grandeur and might of a One True God were to 
him sublimity of ideas of which nothing whatsoever 



PREFACE. 



xxiii 



is found in the writings of the Chinese sage Con- 
fucius. He was enraptured with the newly -found 
knowledge and doctrines. In 1846 he applied to a 
Protestant missionary for baptism, but was refused 
the rite ; so, again disappointed, he left, and taught 
his own converts how to baptize themselves. At 
length his own preachings took effect : his congre- 
gations increased — -were persecuted — gained further 
strength — and assumed the position of political 
revolutionists. The movement, thus begun, assumed 
such importance as to shake the throne of a prince 
ruling over 360 millions of people. Mr. Meadows 
further informs us that he has often been asked, Are 
the followers of Hung-seu-tseuen, now called Taep- 
ings, Christians or not ? He (I presume being a 
Scotchman) replied by another question : What kind 
of Christian? Romanist? Lutheran? Nestorian? Cal- 
vinist ? Armenian ? Abyssinian ? Coptic ? or Greek ? 

Here I may leave Mr. Meadows. It is evident 
that Christianity, to be universal, must have many 
phases, and Oxford divines, to preserve their church, 
need not split hairs. Hung-seu-tseuen's Christianity 
took that phase which climate and constitution of 
body and mind prescribed. It had not the light 
and influence of the white man to guide it, so it ran 
to seed. It did not teach him to exalt the com- 
panion of man above the position of a mere minister 
to his passions. His followers ran loose into 
rapine, wholesale indiscriminate slaughter, and cold- 
blooded ferocity. 



xxiv 



PKEFACE. 



Now let us return to my subject — British India, 
and let us pursue the train of thought suggested by 
the above translations and extracts, and then let us 
ask by what means can English Christianity be best 
introduced amongst 150 millions of subjects of the 
British Crown? By the spread of the "Book" 
only ? Or by the English missionary in person ? 
I think no answer can come more clearly home to 
the mind. Eor the elevation of the native, for the 
introduction of a pure religion and morality, the 
white man's presence is necessary ; and so long as 
England can afford the drain on her blood, so long 
will the population of India draw health and virtue 
from the fountain, till England's own vitality is on 
the wane. 

The subjects of Chapters II., III., X., and 
XL, are " Malay Governments, 400 years ago," 
" Malay Governments at this present Time," " The 
Malay Amok," and " The Aboriginal Mind." These 
have given us illustrations of the mental standard 
in tropical races. To a person who has resided 
in one climate alone, it is difficult to arrive at a 
just conception of the extent to which climate 
alters the physical as well as the mental constitu- 
tion of man. To elevate the black man to the 
standard of the white one is the darling project and 
hope of many amiable and well-meaning enthu- 
siasts ; but when the subject of this paternal in- 
terest asks for the sympathizer's daughter, then 
comes (as I have seen) the reaction. Experience of 



PREFACE. 



XXV 



many climates has brought me to this conclusion, 
that, unless you can put all mankind into one 
climate, to attempt to level it (by elevation or de- 
pression) is futile. Inexorable nature forces us to 
accept her conditions, and to confine our efforts for 
good to operations consistent with, and not opposed 
to these conditions. As it is, races will meet, but 
not on equal terms. Individuals may triumph over 
adverse circumstances, but it is in God's sight alone, 
not in man's, that all are equal. God's sight is 
universal — man's most limited. The demigods and 
heroes of the dark heathen are always painted 
white, and their evil spirits and devils are always 
painted black. As Socrates said to Cebes, <( Between 
all two contraries a mutual twofold production, 
from one to the other, and from that other back 
again, exists." The opposing races will meet, and 
when the white man intrudes on the " habitat " of 
the black man, the superior will give off his virtue 
to the inferior, and the inferior will give off his 
weakness to the superior, as heat and cold draw off 
each other's properties. If England has too many 
children, India is large enough to absorb them all. 
Monopoly suggested the rejection of the children of 
England, — that policy was false to India alone. 
Population is but material — it is spirit that governs 
humanity : the higher the spirit infused into a 
nation or tribe, so much the more elevated will its 
worldly reputation be. There should be no hesita- 



xxvi PREFACE. 

tion in sending the Englishman to India, so long 
as England can bear the drain. 

In Chapters L, VIII., IX,, and XII., viz., 
" The Anglo-Indian Alligator and The Anglo- 
Saxon Flies," « The Civil Service/' " The Unco- 
venanted," and u The Mystery," I have endea- 
voured to give glimpses of the social and political 
state of my countrymen in India. The Great 
Western Company was the Hudson Bay one ; the 
Great Eastern — " The Honourable Company of 
Merchant Adventurers," &c. The aspirations of 
the former were to get beaver- skins and sell blan- 
kets : the original aspirations of the latter were 
to obtain pepper and sell iron. As long as these 
monopolies were sanctioned by the British Parlia- 
ment, no question could be asked. The fact of 
such broad territories being monopolies under such 
high sanction was a clenching answer, if not a con- 
vincing argument. Were monopolies sanctioned by 
the wisdom of the Greeks ? Let us see, by return- 
ing to old Socrates, who, though not so learned or 
scientific as our modern philosophers, was quite as 
wise as any of them. Socrates told Cebes that, " if 
one class of things were not constantly given back 
in the place of another, revolving as it were in a 
circle, but generation were direct from one thing 
alone into its apposite, and did not turn round again 
to the other, or retrace its course — do you know 
that all things would at length have the same form, 



PREFACE. 



xxvii 



be in the same state, and cease to be produced?" 
By means of monopoly the East India Company 
kept everything to itself, and gave nothing to any- 
body else over the fairest half of the earth, conse- 
quently under its sway nothing revolved in a circle, 
nothing retraced its course — nature was sacrilegiously 
interfered with — things ceased to circulate and be 
produced. This monopoly affected the populations 
as the withholding of a vital element does the 
human frame — all other elements were impoverished. 
And while the servants of the great monopoly 
gorged themselves with gain and spoil, they brought 
their employers into debt. The interchange of 
commodities ceased — the agricultural communities 
of India and China ceased to produce, and the 
manufacturing communities of England were barred 
from their legitimate markets. Monopoly in a 
class is like the unsatisfied appetite that craves 
for the sustenance of other men. It is the suffused 
eye that cannot see — it is the congested brain that 
cannot reason. 

In the year 1833 the Company's monopoly of 
trade ceased ; but only to perpetuate a monopoly 
still more abhorrent to true principle. This was a 
monopoly by the sons of mediocrity — of all honour, 
power, and position. With the view of securing 
this to their nominees, the Company, more tena- 
ciously than ever, maintained the " closed service." 
The " closed service " was an institution on a 
Hindoo model, it was an aristocracy of caste, not an 



xxviii 



PEEFACE. 



aristocracy time-honoured and illustrious, such as 
we have in England, where there is the highest of 
earthly rank, but no caste. Any one who has not 
seen the practical working of the institution cannot 
appreciate the extent of feeling on the subject. 
Extremes always met, one way or an other. Caste is 
an infamous thing, originated by the servile Ben- 
galee to keep the detested foreigner extruded from 
his inner household. The perverted faculties of 
the scions of monopoly honoured caste as did the 
meagre Bengalee, and fortified themselves against 
all England. The difference between their aristo- 
cracy of caste and the aristocracy of rank consisted 
in this, that it was not approachable by other Eng- 
lishmen by any effort however great, glorious, or 
transcendent. This is not so with our ancient 
nobility, as a Brougham, a Hardin ge, and a Clyde, 
with many others, living and dead, attest. The 
spirit of absolute exclusion pervaded their whole 
system, civil and military. No deeds however 
daring — no qualifications however superior — no 
parentage however noble, could penetrate the mono- 
poly. The heroism of a private never elevated him 
to superior grade. The rules of their petty navy 
were equally exclusive. The rules of the English 
service, though more conservative than most other 
nations, never ignored singular instances of merit 
and devotion. 

The Company's caste affected the whole body 
politic, and nature was affronted. Their pride 



PREFACE. 



xxix 



begat malice — their wealth, envy — their power, 
hatred. They stopped the revolving current of all 
humanity, and imparted political disease, which 
took this form. The unapproachable position of 
the Company's civilian unsettled all other branches 
of the service, and more particularly the army. 
The officers of the army, drawn from a wider area 
in the Bristish Islands than the civilians, were 
superior in original status ; they felt dissatisfied in 
comparing their unequal positions — despised their 
duties, and craved civil appointments. By this 
means the native army was denuded of the best half 
of its officers ; discipline relaxed, and disorganiza- 
tion and mutiny ensued. The result I need not 
recapitulate. 

The Company's institution of caste acted injuri- 
ously in other directions. It combined against the 
interest of the free English in India. It combined 
with the Hindoo against the Christian. Their 
caste greatness was built on Hindoo prejudices 
rather than on European reminiscences. Colleges 
were built for pagan literature, where the Vedas 
and Puranas were consulted. The pride of pagan 
historical associations sympathized with caste feel- 
ings. Christian books were excluded from these 
institutions, and doctors of the " closed " service 
ministered to the learning and exaltation of the 
young pagan polygamist whose harems were 
scarcely outside the college gates. Such were the 
freaks of the greatest monopoly England ever sup- 



* 



XXX 



PREFACE. 



ported. But she supported it unwittingly. In- 
jured nature reacted by the rebellion of 1857 — a 
rebellion not of the free English settlers against the 
Company — but of the pampered Hindoos against 
their unnatural allies — the Company's scions of caste. 

On the last Chapters, viz. XIII. and XIV., " The 
Indian Connection " and " Service Reform," I may 
be permitted the following remarks : with the trans- 
ference of the Company's government to the Crown 
a new era for India dawned. A great government 
can afford to adhere to just principle in its policy ; 
and the policy that my long and intimate contact 
with Asiatics leads me to advocate I believe to be 
the true one to both the mighty interests concerned. 

England may be likened to a noble oak-tree, 
having many roots and branches : her seed spreads 
to all corners of the earth, and her branches shelter 
many peoples. The seeds that fall in temperate 
climates take root and grow with all the freshness 
and vigour of the parent stalk. They require no 
sustenance from the giant mother-stem, as they 
have vigour in themselves — all they require is the 
shadow of her wide-spreading branches : they grow 
up under this and hedge round the parent tree with 
their lusty arms. Their populations living under 
contrary circumstances, a current from " one to the 
other and from that other back again " is produced, 
whereby both live on each other — both receive 
mutual support — both grow stronger and stronger. 
The manufactured products of the skilled population 



PREFACE. 



xxxi 



of the mother-land find their way to the colonist, 
and the raw produce of the rough colonists finds 
its way to the mother-land back again. Here is 
nature's law in operation, whereby health, vigour, 
and progress is maintained, and wherein mutual good 
offices perpetuate the spirit of love and devotion. 

India has hitherto only been as a parasitical 
plant growing on the great stem of the empire. 
The parasitical plant has lovely foliage and aro- 
matic flowers, and its branches rear themselves as 
high as England's. India excites the wonder and 
envy of the world. But may we ask, while the 
parasite decorates the coronet of England, does it 
add to her strength, or does it induce weakness ? 
The answer has been given in many ways, from the 
ponderings of many statesmen. To assist in the 
solution of the difficulty, I would ask — does the 
Indian empire maintain itself by its own guardians 
or by guardians drained from the best blood of 
old England ? The reply can be none other than 
that the Indian empire, with the nature of a para- 
site, maintains itself by drawing off the heart -sap of 
the old oak. Then what induces us to maintain 
the connection ? Is it legitimate trade ? ~No : 
M'Culloch tells us that a great portion of the trade 
articles exported from England is in powder and 
shot — not for sale. What then should induce us to 
retain India — mere sentiment — love of power — 
glory, or such ephemeral ideas ? No ! Were Eng- 
land like Denmark or Prussia, India would be of no 



xxxii 



PREFACE. 



service to her • but she is rich in mineral wealth . 
Her mineral wealth — coal and iron — have stimu- 
lated her inventive faculties, which have developed 
themselves in the most amazing multiplicity of 
machines and manufactures. These have created 
wealth untold of in history. The wealth fills her 
soil to repletion with an energetic and intelligent 
population. The old oak is sound to the core, yet, 
though it gathers luxuries from all corners of the 
earth — for its tap-root is deep in its own under- 
ground mines — so it need not fear the draught of 
the huge parasite called India. England is plethoric ; 
John Bull is full-blooded, so is the better for cup- 
ping. England is full to repletion with young 
blood, so India is the land to welcome those who 
care not to go to the rough colonies. 

Then as the connection is to be maintained, what 
are to be the terms to the Englishman ? Is he to 
be starved to death in the manner of the old East 
India Company, who would only permit an occupa- 
tion certificate for six feet by two ? Or will you admit 
him to occupy the soil for his own benefit, for the 
exercise of his energies, and for the employment of 
his capital? Here again no answer can be more 
decided ; there can be no hesitation in extending a 
liberal policy to the Englishman in India, for he 
will do good in many ways. He will give profit- 
able employment to the poor native, and so amelio- 
rate his condition, increase his wants, and also 
satisfy more of them. He will create a mutual 



PREFACE. 



xxxiii 



intelligence between the Queen and the ryot (he 
will direct the current contraries between contraries) ; 
and further, he will stimulate the growth of yslw 
products, such as cotton, sugar, rice, and so forth. 
These will go for the purchase of manufactures 
from England, and thus assist in mutual benefits. 
Again, the Englishman's influence will be personally 
directed to the enlightenment of the people, and his 
national loyalty will strengthen the Queen's empire. 
Works, public and private, will be powerfully stimu- 
lated ; famine will be averted by the improvement 
of communications. Contentment will reign where 
peace at one time could only be maintained by the 
sword. 

Under a radical change of measures, a wise govern- 
ment will be watchful, and the most important 
object of solicitude will be service reform. An 
enlightened government will introduce measures 
required by altered circumstances brought about by 
the introduction of the English element into the 
social and political system of India. And here I will 
shortly notice the views of another Far Eastern 
writer before making the suggestions that have 
occurred to myself — not because I adopt his con- 
clusions, but because his information helps to illus- 
trate the subject. 

Mr. Meadows' scheme is an ambitious one ; its 
design comprises no less than a " plan for the union 
of the British Empire and the Improvement of the 
British Executive." This mighty desideratum he 

c 



xxxiv 



PREFACE. 



would effect by an imposition of the Chinese system 
of competitive examinations, which, according to his 
own statement, permits of no degrees — no bachelor- 
ships — no doctorates of virtue. The system, he tells 
us, classifies with much approximative accuracy the 
degrees of cleverness; and, in the Chinese mind, 
cleverness is the associate of morality. He informs 
us that the system has stood the test of one thousand 
years, the main features of which are that there are 
triennial examinations of bachelors in each province, 
conducted under examiners sent from Peking. At 
these examinations five to ten thousand aspirants 
offer themselves, but of whom only seventy generally 
pass. Those passing the examinations become licen- 
tiates, and are at liberty to appear at the metropoli- 
tan examinations at Peking, where two to three 
hundred out of the number from all the provinces 
may attain the degree of doctor. Bachelors under 
this system have no right to expect office, but 
doctors have office by right (what sort of Parliament 
would the Fellows of the Eoyal Society make?). 
Hard and successful study only enables a Chinese 
to set his foot on the lowest step of the official ladder 
(what sort of post-office clerk would Dr. Faraday 
make ?). The Chinese may thus be said, in every 
sense of the term, to be governed by savans. Mr. 
Meadows further tells us that the Chinese have the 
right of rebellion, and while they are the least revolu- 
tionary, they are, at the same time, the most rebel- 
lious of all nations. He states, with philosophic 



PREFACE. 



XXXV 



accuracy, the precise degree of misgovernment that 
entitles the Chinese to rebel ; so being, according to 
his own account, the most rebellious, we cannot but 
conclude that that precise degree of misgovernment 
is more frequent in their system than in any other 
nation. So much for Mr. Meadows' government 
of savans. 

Mr. Meadows, with candour, also brings himself 
to admit that the English are morally higher than 
the Chinese. Coupled with this, he also admits that 
the Chinese have a distinct right to put a tyrannical 
emperor to death, which departure from strict patri- 
archality is one of the causes of the stability of the 
nation. The Chinese nation, while thus stable, he 
shows to be a conquered one, and ruled by a foreign 
race (the Manchoos), as India is by England. In 
British phraseology, China proper would be called a 
" possession," not a nation ; so Chinese nationality 
has no existence — their system is, therefore, not 
applicable to England. 

At the end of his volume, Mr. Meadows enlightens 
us on the degree of humanity which adorns the 
ancient system of competitive officialism . On the 
29th of July, 1851, he attended an execution of 
thirty-four rebels or bandits, of whom one was to be 
cut up alive. The criminals were, ere long, brought 
to the spot, and Mr. Meadows observed that their 
strength was altogether gone from excess of fear or 
from bad treatment. Thirty-three were ranged in 
a row, and one was fixed to a cross. The execu- 



xxxvi 



PREFACE. 



tioner stood, with the sleeves of his coat rolled up, 
by the side of the foremost criminal : when ordered, 
he cut the thirty -three heads off in less than three 
minutes ; and, this done, he proceeded, with a single- 
edged dagger or knife, to cut up the living man on 
the cross, whose body and limbs were bound for the 
purpose. This was a strongly-made man of forty 
years of age, who had been arrested by the authori- 
ties, after they had seized his parents and wife. The 
crucified man, to save his relatives, gave himself up 
to the executioner. Mr. Meadows tells us that he 
watched the crossing of the forehead, the slicing of 
the flesh from off the front of the thighs ; and he 
precisely informs us that this horrible butchering of 
humanity took four to five minutes. After the 
execution, Mr. Meadows observed an assistant place 
his foot on the back of the first body, and with his 
left hand seize hold of the head and saw away at the 
unsevered portion till it was completely cut through. 
This will be sufficient for our obtaining a just appreci- 
ation of the probable effects of Mr. Meadows' Chinese 
system of competitive officialism in any portion of the 
British empire. 

All monopolies pervert the human mind ; and I 
make this remark as I revert to the East India 
Company. If we are to believe recent writers on 
India, W. H. Eussell, Lang, and others, their 
" closed service " ended with scenes of wholesale 
butchery, equal to anything in China. For the 
honour of England, it may be, they were not so 



PREFACE. 



xxxvii 



cold-blooded. With this before the reader, sufficient 
apology is furnished for myself, or any other British 
subject, when we are so bold as to make suggestions 
for the better government of India. 

India has now a " competitive service " to govern 
her, and to monopolize all posts of trust and honour. 
And wherein does this service differ from that of 
China ? wherein is it better, and wherein is it worse ? 
It differs in this manner, that the Chinese official 
gives his life to study — his years to gain a step. 
The civilian of India, when a lad, undergoes two or 
three years of cramming, and then claims the unex- 
ampled privileges of his caste. The system is infi- 
nitely more vicious than that of China, and must 
end in greater demoralization. The great weak- 
nesses of the Hindoo are in his caste prejudices, and 
the civil service of India adopts these prejudices. 
The fundamental doctrine of the Chinese polity is 
a false one ; it links cleverness to virtue. Eeason 
tells us that an impressible boy may not grow into 
a judicious man — that a ready wit does not prove 
thoughtf ulness — quickness may not be coupled with 
perseverance, nor may intelligence always guarantee 
morality. The higher qualities of man are only 
developed by time and trials. It were well if a 
system could be matured for India more in conso- 
nance with the genius of the British people ; a system 
calculated to conserve great interests, not to rend 
them asunder. 

It will thus appear that my own convictions 



xxxviii 



PREFACE. 



oppose the competitive system in the civil service : 
then it may be asked, what would I substitute ? To 
this I would reply, that it is of minor consequence 
what England may adopt for herself, as she has lynx- 
eyed public opinion within her to react promptly 
against falsity ; but the case is different in her tropi- 
cal possessions. In these I would substitute nothing 
else than what England's good sense has always 
supported : my cry would be, Let there be no invidious 
distinctions between equals; and out of this prin- 
ciple all interests would shape themselves with safety. 
Old Socrates has elucidated the universal rule of 
contraries, and it would be well to bear that in 
mind. An opposite treatment of equal things will 
bring on as much detriment as an equal treatment 
of opposites. On this rock the East India Company's 
government was wrecked, A civil service of savans 
would, on Socrates' rule, demand a component 
element of unmitigated ignorance. Under it the 
inferior grade of European servants would not be 
able to read or write. This was the mediaeval system, 
when priests ruled the land. I observe now that a 
coffinmaker's son has successfully competed, and thus 
entered the aristocracy of India. Competitive ex- 
amination is a wonderful machine, when it can make 
a coffinmaker's son illustrious, even before he may 
have acquired the habits and tone of a gentle- 
man. Notwithstanding this, I maintain that all 
British subjects are born equal ; their ultimate posi- 
tion alone must be left to individual fortune or 



PKEFACE. 



xxxix 



qualifications. No power can prevent the rise of a 
Greorge Stephenson or a Lord Clyde, and no one 
would be so hardy as to ignore the illustrious posi- 
tion of these great men. They attained their places 
after they had fully developed their incomparable merits. 
The falsity of the competitive system for the civil 
service of India consists in the acceptance of unde- 
veloped boys to hold a monopoly of all positions of 
the highest trust. This offence against nature 
should cease, and a new system be inaugurated. 
And what should this system be ?* 

The spirit that governs India must be an intelli- 
gent one ; it must have no blind routine to cramp 
its rapid development — to ignore its ever-changing 
requirements. India has always been a prey to the 
conqueror, or it has been torn to pieces by faction. 
England's power has cemented her together, and 
made many races and languages into a homogeneous 
whole. It is England's power alone that has done 
this ; it is her power alone that will maintain it so. 
Then let England keep the key. The key can be 

* As I only pretend to glance at principles (details would fill 
volumes), I would ask the intelligent reader to look over the recent 
works on Ceylon and Java, from which many good hints on the 
government of tropical possessions will be derived. Ceylon, as I 
observed it ten years ago, was far in advance of any portion of the 
East India Company's dominions, whether as to constitution of govern- 
ments, system of civil service, or public and private enterprise. The 
government of Netherlands India was thrifty and contracted, and thus 
not burdensome to the people. With the Dutch, European agency was 
cheap and abundant. 



xl 



PREFACE. 



trusted in no other hands. Let her diplomatists — ■ 
her army and navy — be wholly English, and held to 
their duty, for, assuredly as the Asiatic element is 
introduced into these, so will decay be generated. 
With the key of the empire in the hands of Old 
England, the necessity for a " closed civil service" — ■ 
a pampered aristocracy of employes — will have 
ceased. India may then be served by public depart- 
ments, such as are maintained at home and in the 
colonies. The individuals in their departments may 
be rewarded according to their merits only, and thus 
abuse of patronage would be avoided. The leaders 
of the British people might no longer denude them- 
selves of the power of nominating the instruments 
of their policy in India, for whose conduct they are 
responsible to the nation ; nor need the heads of 
departments be denuded of the same power of 
nominating their assistants, for whose conduct they 
are responsible to the government. Provided the 
nominee can pass an examination and can prove that 
he possesses a competent knowledge of the duties of 
the post, I can see no earthly reason why he should be 
excluded on the plea of his being a son of a man in 
power — the son of a minister — of a member of parlia- 
ment, or the mayor of a city. Why should the public 
services of a father react against the interest of a 
son ? Is the nation not better of the link ? Competitive 
services cut the sympathetic tie between the government 
and the people. It introduces sycophancy towards 
the former and oppression upon the latter. The 



PREFACE. 



xli 



history of the Chinese competitive system abun- 
dantly illustrates this to be the truth. 

The influx of Europeans into India was a subject 
of jealous fear to the East India Company. Their 
fears rested on a selfish basis. In India the Euro- 
pean does not last for ever — his health declines, and 
his vigour soon gives way. His virtue may remain 
to him for one or two generations. Then I say the 
more virtue infused into a degenerate land the 
greater will be the good for the time being. As 
it is with English Christianity in India, the constant 
presence of the missionary being necessary, so it is 
with English polity — it is only the white man's per- 
sonal presence that will maintain it. The call for 
the European will be continuous, for nature wars in 
the tropics against the white man and his insti- 
tutions. The Hindoos are as unchangeable as the 
Egyptians ; but the influence of the Englishman will 
give a higher development to their industries — a 
better direction to their efforts. He will bring peace 
and plenty to the land : but this can only be gained * 
by the presence of the free Englishman. 

THE AUTHOB, 

1865. 



d 



SOME GLIMPSES INTO LIFE 

IN 

THE FAR EAST. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR AND THE ANGLO- 
SAXON FLIES. 

The public are indebted to the meritorious com- 
municativeness of the Hon. E. A. Blundell of the 
East India Company's Civil Service for the follow- 
ing curious narrative. Its authenticity is beyond 
doubt, having been extracted from official records, 
portions of which are here given. The narrative 
will, I hope, be found to contain a lucid and cha- 
racteristic description of the Far Eastern social and 
political system as it was more than sixty years ago. 

The above authority says that " some time during 
the first of the year 1796 the office of superintendent 
of the island of Penang was assumed by Major 
Forbes Boss Macdonald, by appointment from the 
Government of Bengal. The gallant Major seems 
to have thought that the more he wrote, and the 
more voluminous his despatches, the more credit 
would he earn ; as, before he had been six months 

B 



2 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



in the island, he despatched two Reports, which 
occupy upwards of 500 closely-written folio pages, 
and the style being somewhat inflated and re- 
dundant, his meaning is not at all times very in- 
telligible. 

" Major Macdonald, and the mercantile com- 
munity of the island very soon became hostile to 
each other, though the absence of any real ground 
of hostility, judging from the Major's own Reports, 
raises a suspicion that the grapes must have been 
sour. If his orders, or his conscience, forbade him 
from engaging in trade, that was no reason why 
the merchants should be run down in a body, as 
scarcely deserving the appellation ; nor, considering 
that the mercantile community must have imagined 
him possessed of the right to engage in trade, 
ought he to have expected them to come forward and 
give him, a stranger, such information as might 
enable him to compete with them in trade, to their 
disadvantage. The Major is loud in his com- 
plaints to Government, especially against Mr. James 
Scott, the partner of the Major's predecessor (Cap- 
tain Light), and to him are ascribed all the difficul- 
ties and impediments which he met with. 

" The preamble of the Major's first Despatch, 
dated July, 1796, will give a good idea of the style 
of the gallant officer; but a brief outline of the 
remainder of these bulky Despatches, with a few 
extracts here and there, can alone be given.* 

* See " Journ. Indian Arch.," p. 94, vol. v. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



3 



" Honourable Sir, 

" Since the first hour of my arrival in this 
island, every moment which could be spared from 
the current business of the day, has been devoted to 
the acquirement of the most ample, and, at the same 
time, the best founded, information as to the com- 
merce, population, cultivation, and external policy of 
this settlement." 

" My success has by no means kept pace with my 
endeavours. The sources of intelligence are but 
few, and from them the stream runs not only scanty 
but turbid. On every side I have had to encounter 
obstacles arising from commercial jealousies, secret 
animosities, and tardy, but contradictory details ; but, 
above all, from a selfish policy, which dreaded official 
interference and consequent decline of influence." 

" The history of the island since its establish- 
ment under the British flag, is only to be gathered 
from the journal and ledger of a certain mercantile 
house, which, indebted for its uncommon prosperity 
to the preponderating weight it derived from having 
as its principal and most ostensible head the Com- 
pany's Superintendent, and the convenient command 
of the Public Treasury, is too much interested in 
defeating all retrospective inquiry, to allow more to 
transpire than what the publicity of certain mer- 
cantile transactions forbid it to dissemble, or which is 
to be gleaned with caution from its equally anxious 
although less favoured competitors, who are not 
backward in their attempt to prove, by no scanty 

b 2 



4 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



store of anecdotes, that the accomplishment of its 
interested views was not too frequently for the 
general good, and most avowedly sacrificed the real 
interests of the infant settlement. 

" Between the illusive speciousness of the one, and 
the strong unqualified invective of the other, more 
than a general idea is not to be formed of past 
management. But, I am happy to affirm with con- 
fidence, that, in whatever light individual character 
may appear, the general policy will be found to 
have been progressive. The rapidity of its first 
advances, even under the most favourable circum- 
stances, could not, upon a strict investigation into 
the prosperity of the island, have been expected to 
continue — much less after the effects of war came to 
be sensibly felt by the oldest and most firmly-esta- 
blished marts. It then received a severe blow, and 
that it did not sink totally under it, must minister 
a convincing proof that the original plan was founded 
in commercial wisdom, and that the guidance of its 
infant interests was intrusted to a head and hand of 
no inconsiderable ability and activity. 

" To the war, and that only, is to be attributed on 
a liberal view, its visible decrease of speed and its 
gradual declension into a slow march, mistaken, by 
the cursory observer, for quiescence ; and, by party- 
spirit, and interested malevolence, construed into 
retrogradation. 

" Disappointed very early in my expectation that 
a candid statement of the favourable intentions of 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOK, ETC. 



5 



the Government towards the island would stimulate 
those most immediately concerned, and most con- 
versant with the subject, to an equally ingenious 
detail of the progress it had made, its actual state, 
the means by which it had risen, and those most 
likely to insure its future prosperity ; and pressed 
by a Despatch from your Honourable Board, under 
date the 4th of April, I addressed a letter to the 
gentlemen engaged in commercial pursuits, request- 
ing them to favour me with such information on the 
subject of trade, and the practicability of raising a 
revenue from it, as their local knowledge or general 
correspondence might suggest. 

" The result I have the honour to transmit to you. 
Had I done it sooner I should have failed in my 
duty to you and justice to those concerned in the 
prosperity of the island ; feeling, as I did, a convic- 
tion that, on every subject of the Eeport, party- 
spirit and .private pique had been too freely in- 
dulged to admit of a strict adherence to simple fact. 

" To soften some of the harsher features of the 
picture here drawn, and to palliate, or do away with, 
the prejudices which strong allegations, although 
unsupported by proof, might on a first view sug- 
gest, I have perused with attention the scanty 
records of the island, and have consulted, upon 
doubtful and delicate points, one or two gentlemen 
of veracity, whose long residence here, and intimacy 
with all parties, have enabled them to form a toler- 
ably just estimate of past transactions. 



6 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



" What I have been able to collect I have the 
honour to lay before you in the annexed remarks. 
I trust, as divested of all party prejudice, and 
dictated by a sincere wish to convey to you the 
purest information, it will meet your indulgence. 
My residence here has not been long ; and, de- 
prived as I have been, from various circumstances, 
of every assistance, my time has been so completely 
occupied that I have had but short intervals to 
dedicate to inquiry or investigation. 

" When I addressed my letter to the Commercial 
Committee, I acted under a conviction that from 
Mr. Scott alone, of all the members of it, any 
information of importance was to be gained. But 
that was repeatedly refused or evaded, on private 
and friendly application, for a reason which, how- 
ever cogent, was little indicative of generous pride 
or consciousness of rectitude, ' That owing to an 
unfortunate prepossession against his general cha- 
racter, and the idea which had been industriously 
disseminated of his aiming at improper influence on 
the island, the merited credence would, in all proba- 
bility, be refused to his single assertions.' He urged 
the formation of a Committee, when, countenanced 
by an aggregate of names (supposed, beca.use as- 
serted to be, the designation of actual and exten- 
sively-engaged commercial houses) he would freely 
impart what his experience from long residence, and 
his information from a wide circle of correspondence, 
had enabled him to collect. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOB, ETC. 



7 



"I was not without my suspicions of his in- 
tentions ; but was far from imagining that he would, 
under the mask of such a feeble battery, hazard 
invective so strong, or censure so unqualified — the 
less pardonable that, in no instance, do they bear a 
relation to the only point recommended to the con- 
sideration of the Committee. 

" It is a painful but necessary remark — for to be 
silent would be but to deceive — that there exists not 
a house upon this island, that of Scott excepted, 
which merits the epithet ' commercial ;' nor any 
individual out of the pale of that firm of sufficient 
capital to be, with propriety, esteemed a 6 merchant/ 
in a liberal acceptance of that word. Of the junior 
members of that house (which for a purpose as 
flimsy as it is deceptious, has been made to appear 
two), Mr. Lindsay's name alone could give weight 
to any mercantile opinion. 

" My sole motive for this otherwise invidious 
observation is limited to my wish that you should 
be acquainted with what I most sincerely believe to 
be the fact, that in the Eeport of the Committee you 
either see detailed Mr. Scott's opinions alone — 
dictated and assented to by the rest ; or if, here 
and there, those of any other individual have been 
added, the former have gained no accession of 
currency or intrinsic value. 

" It remains but to advert to the studied affecta- 
tion of ever introducing the merits of Mr. Light in 
contradistinction to the uniform culpability of his 



» 



8 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



successors. Under such stigma as maybe supposed 
to attach on this attack, the credit of the latter may 
rest unsullied, as they are, but made to share the 
obloquy meted out with no sparing hand to their 
superiors. But for those who in a sincere en- 
deavour to investigate the truth have to combat 
with novelty of situation, intricacy of inquiry, and 
strong affirmation, it is not a little fortunate that, 
by this very eulogium, they are furnished with the 
means of combating those difficulties. 

" The panegyrist of Mr. Light can have no 
objection to his evidence ; and, where that can be 
appealed to, and compared with Mr. Scott's, I trust 
it will be found to speak a language more congenial 
to infant but successful effort, and to hope infinitely 
more incentive.^ 

(Signed) " Forbes Eoss Macdonald." 

" The Committee assembled by Major Macdonald 
on the 19th May, 1796, consisted of the following 
gentlemen, viz. : — Messrs. Mclntyre, Scott, Lind- 
say, Hutton, Eoebuck, Young, Brown, Sparran, 
Mackrell, and Nason, of whom Young was the 
Secretary." 

"At their first meeting Major Macdonald informed 
the Committee that he was desirous of procuring 
information as to the trade of the island ; that it 

* The Author is not responsible for Major Macdonald's peculiarities 
of style, as the extract is verbatim et literatim. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



9 



was suggested to lay on a tax of If per cent, on 
imports ; and that it was his opinion that ' the 
duties of the merchants and those of the state were 
reciprocal; and that a generous and liberal contribution 
ivas expected of them." 

" The Committee preface their Report with a long 
string of complaints against the Government, of 
which the chief are : — the uncertainty and appre- 
hension caused by the formation of a settlement in 
the Andaman s, and the frequent reports of Penang 
being abandoned in its favour — the alarm and 
apprehension caused by disputes with Keddah, rela- 
tive to the payment of the promised compensation 
to the Rajah — the indecision and uncertainty that 
prevailed relative to landed tenures — the absence of 
a Court of Law — the subjection of the inhabitants 
to trial by court-martial, which had deterred nu- 
merous people from settling there — the want of 
protection from European enemies — the impress- 
ment of labourers, by military force, to carry on 
public works — the inactivity and unaccommodating 
manners of Mr. Mannington — and the undefined 
rate of taxation contemplated by Government. 

" Under the head of 4 Commerce,' the Committee 
argue very forcibly against taxing the trade of the 
island, as 6 consisting wholly of the produce of other 
countries, which it is the grand object to induce to 
be brought, and which taxation might scare away.' 
They point out ' that it is the extent of the ex- 
change trade which gives life, activity, riches, 



10 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



population, and cultivation to Penang. The laying 
restraints thereon, if but suspected that it might 
lessen the trade, could not be deemed politic. 
That by a free exchange 'the increase of popula- 
tion, capital, and cultivation would present a tax- 
able subject in the farming and exclusive sale of 
luxuries to a rich and great population, and a duty 
on the net produce of an extensive and valuable 
cultivation/ 

" They conclude with an unanswerable argu- 
ment. ' But what renders it impossible to levy any 
duty on the trade at Penang is our not possessing 
the sole sovereignty of the port, and hence ships 
anchoring at Prye, on the opposite shore, could 
there trade independent of our jurisdiction/ 

" Under the head of ' Cultivation,' the Committee 
observe that cultivation has not progressed [ since 
Mr. Light's death; that almost the whole cultiva- 
tion carried on by the poorer natives has been 
effected by aids given by the house of Scott and 
Co., who have mortgages thereon ; that these aids 
were given at the request of Mr. Light, on a 
promise of reimbursement ; but that his death 
involves either a continuance of the aids till the 
cultivation becomes productive, or the loss of the 
money advanced; that these advances amount to 
near a lac of rupees ; that the extension of the 
system offers a most certain source of revenue ; that 
a continuance of the system is necessary as the 
principal articles of cultivation — pepper, cocoa, and 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 11 

betel-nut require large advances before any returns 
can be expected; that such continuance of the 
system would, under some modified arrangements, 
be more beneficial in the hands of Scott and Co. 
than in those of the Company's servants lately 
arrived in the island, and who are ignorant of the 
people and language ; that some of the Committee 
recommend that the tax on cultivation should be 
farmed — others that it should be levied direct ; and, 
finally, that no measures for the prosperity of 
cultivation can be effected till 1 the Supreme Go- 
vernment pledge themselves to make good to the 
cultivators any loss they may sustain from the 
precipitate measures of their servants here, and 
that no cultivation can exist if the Superintendent 
for the time being can, on ill-founded information, 
lay a district under military execution, and then 
leave the sufferers, when their innocence of any 
supposed delinquency has been clearly proved, to 
procure redress when, where, and how they can/ 

" The Committee commence the section of ' Popu- 
lation ' with : ' As a perfect freedom of exchange 
carries trade and industry by the most direct means 
to a maximum, so ease and plenty carries popula- 
tion.' Again, ' Moderation in manners, forbear- 
ance in temper, and the most patient attention to 
the complaints and wants of the natives are qualifi- 
cations the most absolutely necessary in the mem- 
bers of this Government, on which all hopes of an 
increase of population must ultimately depend.' 



12 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



" The Committee conclude their Report with 
twenty-one suggestions, which they desire may be 
laid before the Government, for the general welfare 
of the settlement : — 

" 1. That the Supreme Government do officially 
announce the intention of keeping the island, and 
of considering it as a part of the British Empire in 
India. 2. That the port be declared free. 3. That 
ingress or egress to and from the port be allowed 
without fee or detention. 4. That a portion of the 
opposite coast be obtained from Keddah, so as to 
secure the sovereignty of the port. 5. That the 
Supreme Government pledge themselves to the 
community that the assessment on land produce 
shall never exceed a given rate, say, ten per cent. 
6. That the term of commencement shall not be 
previous to a given date (say 1800). 7. That land 
be given in perpetuity. 8. That it be not optional 
with the local authorities to change the forms under 
which land has hitherto been held, transferred, or 
mortgaged. 9. The establishment of a Court of 
Judicature. 10. That, pending the establishment 
of such Court, a magistrate be appointed, &c, a 
man of accommodating manners, mild temper, and 
experience. 11. That the military be no longer 
employed in executing civil orders. 12. That the 
fines for securing the farms be moderated or disused. 
13. That military guards, necessary for protecting 
the Company's property or keeping the peace, be 
under their proper military officers. 14. That the 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 13 



necessary orders for ' general convenience, or for 
police,' be no longer carried into effect by the 
military, but by a committee of the inhabitants, 
composed of equal numbers of each class. 15. That 
it shall not be permitted to the Sepoys to lend 
money, or make commercial contracts; or, if they 
do, that no coercive redress be given on complaint, 
16. That those who may be intrusted with making 
advances to cultivators do so with promptitude, and 
a patient listening to all complaints. 17. That 
European cultivators be equally encouraged with 
natives, and that the importation of slaves be pro- 
hibited. 18. That the article of the treaty with 
Keddah, providing for the free export of rice, be 
enforced. 19. That the ground allotted to the 
Chinese, as a burial-ground, be free from all future 
molestation. 20. Tliat the powers now assumed by 
the Superintendent, of sending settlers to Bengal at his 
pleasure, be rescinded; and, 21. That we are sorry 
to observe that your Government here is rapidly 
changing from the fostering hand of a kind father 
to the features of a severe master ; and we recom- 
mend that such measures be adopted as will bring 
it back to its first principle — 4 the benefit of those 
living under it,' as held forth in the general letter of 
January 1787." 

" An Appendix headed, ' Eeflections on using the 
Military for carrying civil orders into effect,' dis- 
closes a very curious state of affairs. It is stated 
that, 'At the Custom-house, if a Nakodah (native 



14 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



sea-captain), from ignorance, or inattention, or a 
strong wind and tide, does not bring-to the moment 
the guard calls, he is seized, dragged — literally 
dragged — before the ' under strapper, ' or Havildar, 
and taught his exercise with the butt-end of a 
musket, or a bayonet, and plundered, under the 
name of a compromise. ***** At the gaol, 
the moment a person is confined there, he is taught 
the military step, by the butt or the bayonet ; and, 
if he growls, or looks angry, by more than one ; 
and, as the guard keep the prison keys, they mal- 
treat those whom they dislike. This insolence is 
often extended to those who may bring the prisoners 
their food. ***** As they (the committee) 
have most convincing proof that ill-blood exists 
between the inhabitants and the present detachment 
of the Marine Battalion, they think it highly im- 
prudent to use them in such services." 

"This Report and statement of grievances (of 
which the above are the merest abridged extracts) 
were forwarded by Major Macdonald to Government 
in a letter, of which the preamble has already been 
given. He comments on it at great length, and in 
the order adopted by the committee. Under the 
head of 4 commerce/ he fastens at once on the 
account of the trade, drawn up by Mr. James Scott, 
and affirms that it gives no information, and, above 
all, does not account for the means whereby Messrs. 
Scott and Light were enabled to control the market, 
and compete successfully with Bengal merchants. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



15 



He says, 'had a fair competition been allowed for 
distant capital — had not those boasted regulations 
of the house of Scott, which, with an apparent 
moderation and fairness, only evince a more refined 
but no less engrossing policy, barred the door 
against those who, trading on their own funds, 
required a profit proportionate to the risk, we 
should not, after ten years, have yet to inquire, 
with but a feeble ray to direct us, the nature and 
amount of the Penang trade ; nor would the soi- 
disant merchants of the committee, when pride and 
interest — two powerful incentives — stimulated them 
to a candid confession, have contented themselves 
with referring to such a document.' After de- 
scribing the nature of the Penang trade as connected 
with the Archipelago, India, and China, he proceeds : 
— i Such being the nature of the trade, passing 
through but never halting on this island, it becomes 
a question for your superintending wisdom to de- 
termine whether such a trade, with all its advantages 
of capital, general diffusion, quick and valuable 
returns, &c, be a fair subject of supervenient taxa- 
tion. For it is to be remarked that, with the excep- 
tion of those articles which supply the remittance 
to the Chinese investment, the rest pays a duty in 
some part of the Company's possession.' 

" Under the head of ' Cultivation,' Major Mac- 
donald of course combats, with all his might, the 
recommendations of the complaisant committee that 
the system of advances should continue under the 



16 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



arrangement of Scott & Co. He says, ' How 
tenaciously Mr. Scott, in the agony of despair at 
the daily retrogradation of his influence, from a 
period somewhat antecedent to Mr. Light's death, 
defends this last remaining nook, is strongly 
evinced hy the total disregard of wonted caution. 
This is no moment for finesse — no time for slowly- 
operating sap ; the enemy is pressing hard upon him, 
and he is reduced to the ultima ratio, his artillery of — 
recent arrival, — consequent inexperience, — ignorance of 
language, — inability of discrimination, — culpability in 
the hand of venality and unproductive lavishness of 
public money, — and this not directed against any one 
devoted victim, but against all and every one whom 
Government may think proper to depute. Mr. Light, 
in his eagerness to clear, gave away as much to every 
claimant as his avidity prompted him to demand. 
Malays, Sepoys, Lascars, all descriptions became 
siezed of landed property. Few grants were ever 
issued ; consequently, since his death, the pro- 
prietorship has became a source of cavil and un- 
certainty. The native Surveyor's measurement, 
attested by his seal, is, at this moment, the only 
document which the greater number possess.' 
Major Macdonald complains greatly of the manner 
in which large tracts of the best lands have been 
allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few Euro- 
peans who do not even attempt to clear them ; and 
he proposes that grants of land hereafter, to all 
descriptions of applicants, be limited. He gets 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



17 



very violent as lie proceeds. ' This arrangement 
may at first view appear hard and unjust ; but it 
must be considered that the assumptions of land 
by a few Europeans have been very wanton, and 
are extremely injurious to the prosperity of this 
rising settlement, by vesting property in a set of 
low wretches, too ignorant and short-sighted to turn 
that property to advantage ; or in their children, in 
whom, in general, are to be traced all the passive 
vices of their parents.' 

" Major Macdonald then proceeded to detail a 
suggestion of his own, towards payment of the 
island expenses, viz., — 'that the Government should 
itself engage in the Straits trade, to a limited amount 
of capital/ and concludes his letter by stating that 
he ' does not expect to raise for the current year 
more than 126,000 rupees, though the estimate had 
been 281,000/ 

"To this Despatch, in a few months, succeeded 
another of 250 paragraphs, in which Major Mac- 
donald completes his view of the state of affairs in 
the island, and offers suggestions for further ma- 
nagement. From this letter a few extracts, under 
its several heads, are here given, such as describe 
the state of the island at that time, and possess an 
interest at this present day : — 

" Civil and Criminal Judicature." 

" Police." 

" Each language, in imitation of those under the 

c 



IS 



LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 



Dutch government, have had a captain, or head 
man, appointed over it, to administer justice in all 
cases not requiring an appeal to higher powers, to 
keep registers, and regulate the police of all their 
districts. 

" The men whom I found in office have, to a 
man, proved unworthy of their trust. I long hesi- 
tated to make any alterations, judging it preferable 
to deprive myself of the assistance which that class 
of police-officers might afford than to hazard a 
nomination which ignorance, self-interest, or favour, 
might recommend, to the prejudice of the general 
good. 

" By this resolution I involved myself in per- 
petual scenes of complaint and litigation : my house 
was every day filled, and my time so entirely occu- 
pied as to divert my attention from the pursuit of 
requisite and general information. * * * # * 
To the Europeans alone, to their interested motives, 
to their spirit of insubordination, must he attri- 
buted the general laxity of every department ; for 
where could rigour — where could, with propriety, 
any restrictive regulations operate — while the most 
conspicuous part of the community not only itself 
sanctioned, but preached up, publicly, a crusade 
against the Government? ***** Am 
idea has been suggested and fondly cherished, that 
the grant or purchase of land has given a certain 
validity, a right to residence, which is unknown in 
any other quarter of the Company's territory ; and 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



19 



that as the charter has not extended the powers of 
jurisdiction to the dependencies of Bengal, European 
settlers here are out of the pale of all legal control. 
Their experience of the general lenity of Govern- 
ment, ministering to them the flattering idea that 
they may long revel in independence before the arm 
of power will be raised to crush them! 

" The Major's opinions of the Malays may be 
gathered from the following : — ' Religious pre- 
judices, fostered by laziness and false pride, forbid 
the Malays to be cleanly in their houses, at least 
below, and in the environs of them.' Of the 
natives of Penang generally, he says : — ' A mixed, 
a little estimable population, live huddled together, 
in a manner little superior to their favourite animal, 
the buffalo ; property and assumed occupancy are 
blended in such a manner as to nearly baffle dis- 
crimination ; every species of villany, of depravity, 
and of disease, here finds an asylum.' 

"His animosity towards Europeans will again 
appear in the following : — ' This island was esta- 
blished, and still continues to be supported, for the 
extension and protection of commerce. As mer- 
chants only should Europeans be permitted to settle : 
if to their convenience a few acres of ground for a 
house, garden, and a few cows were thought neces- 
sary, I certainly am of opinion it should be granted ; 
and, where a spirit of industry — a love of improve- 
ment — is evinced in Europeans, worthy of indulg- 
ence, I should have no objection to an extension of 

c 2 



20 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



grant. ***** To purchases from the needy 
lower classes of inhabitants, I have uniformly 
hitherto shown myself averse. Mr. Young, not 
contented with 40 times more ground than he will, 
it is my opinion, ever cultivate, some months ago 
purchased from the Burmah settlers a large tract 
which they had cleared, thus throwing them back 
upon the Company's ground, where, from charity, 
Mr. Light had received them, on their emigration 
from Keddah, to be a burthen to it, and useless to 
themselves. I have refused to register the sale, and 
have ordered the Burmahs to resume their property, 
as they shall not be encouraged, without proving 
themselves, by industry, worthy of protection. Of 
every spot which Mr. Scott's sagacity pointed out 
as, at a future hour, likely to become valuable, he 
has, by assumption or purchase, made himself a part- 
owner. But T believe his views, the ultimate be- 
quest of his estate excepted, have always turned 
to the prosperity of the island, towards which his 
own improvements on an extended scale contribute. 
What he does not immediately cultivate I have 
reason to think he would dispose of to the Com- 
pany at a fair valuation, or on the terms by which 
he acquired it. Mr. Layton is likewise an indus- 
trious and prospering farmer, as Mr. Brown was 
previous to his junction with Mr. Young. The 
latter gentleman I consider in every walk a specu- 
latist, much too ardent and versatile to permit any 
one of his schemes to even a distant chance of 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



21 



success. Although here a settler of three years, 
and long possessed of land, no part of it yet pro- 
mises to reward his own labour, or the public ex- 
pectance from it.' 

" The Despatch concludes with the following final 
blow, aimed at the obstreperous English settlers, 
and as the only appendix forthcoming contains the 
replies of these men to the call made on them, a few 
of their answers are here given ; and thus concludes 
this terribly long report upon the state of Penang, 
in 1796 :— 

" Immediately on the receipt of your commands, 
I sent a circular to the European inhabitants, re- 
questing the authority under which each of them 
has taken up his residence here. Their answer I 
have the honour to forward to you. Adverting to 
the contest I have had with the majority, I could 
wish to decline stating my opinion of their charac- 
ters as merchants, or rather traders. It is not 
very favourable to them, the house of Scott excepted. 
What I have before said of them, in the aggregate, 
on further knowledge I confirm, that by their 
removal neither the particular interests of the 
island nor those of trade in general, could, in 
the most minute scale of deterioration, be affected ; 
not that I wish any step to be taken to their pre- 
judice. I would much rather witness their pros- 
perity, provided they merited it by quiet and orderly 
behaviour. In what estimation they may stand 
with their employers as agents I know not; but 



22 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



as traders on their own account, their sphere is 
certainly very limited. 

" Of Mr. Fenwick, I have not heard for some 
time. Report speaks of him as a prisoner to the 
French. Previous to his departure, I had some 
idea he had repented of his folly ; his violence 
made him the stalking-horse of more prudent men. 
The only difference between them was, he attacked 
openly, while they were contented to work by sap." 

" Copy of a Circular Letter to the European 

Inhabitants, 

"Sir, 

" I have the honour to enclose to you a copy 
of a paragraph of a general letter from the Supreme 
Government, under date the 27th August, 1796, 
received yesterday by the ship 'Diana,' with the 
purport of which you will please immediately to 
comply, that I may take the earliest opportunity 
of forwarding your answer to the Governor-General 
in Council. 

" I am, &c, 
(Signed) " Forbes Ross Macdonald. 

"Fort Comwallis, 21st Sept., 1796." 

Answers. 

" To Forbes Boss Macdonald, Esq,, Superintendent. 
" Sir, 

" In answer to your letter of yesterday, I have 
to inform you that I came to settle on this island, 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



23 



under the protection of Mr. Light, early in the year 
1788, and have been on it since that time, but have 
no authority or permission whatever for my re- 
siding here. 

"I am, &c, 
(Signed) " W. Lindsay. 

" Penang, 22nd Sept., 1796." 

" To Forbes Boss Macdonald, Esq., Superintendent. 
" Sir, 

" I have to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of yesterday, with the paragraph enclosed. I 
beg leave to inform you that I have in my possession 
the counterpart of my covenant as free merchant 
for Prince of Wales Island, and which I will pro- 
duce if required. 

" I have, &c, 
(Signed) "William Scott.* 

"Penang, 21st Sept., 1796," 

" Sir, 

" As the paragraph in the letter is to this 
island only, I beg leave to inform you, that 
although my stay on this island has been much 
longer than wished for, yet I never thought of 
being a settler here, as I belong to Calcutta, to 

* Afterwards Scott of Raeburn, and of Lessudden, in Roxburghshire. 



24 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

which place I return as soon as I can settle my 
affairs. 

" I have, &c, 
(Signed) " James Scott.* 

"Penang, 21st Sept., 1796." 

" Sir, 

"I have the honour to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, with the 
paragraph of a general letter from the Supreme 
Government, authorizing you to require the Eu- 
ropean settlers to produce to you their authority or 
permission by which they reside in India. 

" In reply to which I have the pleasure to 
inform you, that I came to India a Sergeant in his 
Majesty's Hundredth Regiment in the year 1781 ; 
that for my long services and the hardships in prison 
after the defeat of the army under the command of 
General Matthews, in the Mysore country, my 
commanding officer was induced to recommend me 
to Lord Cornwallis, who was pleased not only to 
give me my discharge, but to permit me to reside 
in any part of India, and personally recommended 
Prince of Wales Island as the most likely to answer 
my expectations. 

" I have, &c, 
(Signed) " Thomas Layton. 

44 Prince of Wales Island, 22nd Sept., 1796." 

* Uncle of Sir Walter Scott, and one of the fathers of the settlement 
of Penang. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



25 



"Forbes Ross Macdonald, Esquire, Superintendent. 
" Sir, 

"I have the honour to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter under date the 21st instant, 
covering the following paragraph, received by the 
the ship 'Diana,' under date the 22nd August, 
1796:— 

" < You are to require all the European settlers on 
the island to produce to you the authority or per- 
mission under which they reside there, and to 
report their names and character to the Governor- 
General in Council, that he may determine on the 
propriety of withdrawing or continuing the permis- 
sion/ 

(Signed) " ' Ross Macdonald.' 

" In answer to which I beg leave to inform you, 
for the information of the Governor-General in 
Council, that my authority or permission to reside 
in India is from his Majesty King George the 
Third, God save him ; also from the superintendent, 
Francis Light, Esquire, commencing the 10th day 
of September, 1786, the public faith being pledged 
for that purpose, continued and am at present no 
inconsiderable settler, having in my possession 
houses and lands to a considerable amount. 

" And as to my character, I shall take particular 
care that it be laid before the Governor-General in 



26 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Council, since the year 1779, by Admiral Eainer, 
also by other respectable characters, till the present 
period. 

" I have, &c, 
(Signed) " William Henry Nason. 

" Penang, 22nd Sept., 1796." 



Eeply to the foregoing. 

" 23rd September, 1796. 

" Sir, 

" In yonr letter of the 22nd instant, in 
answer to mine of the 21st, you say that your 
authority or permission for residing in India is from 
his Majesty King George III. 

" You will please to furnish me, for the informa- 
tion of the Governor- General, with a counterpart or 
tenor for such permission. 

" You likewise say that your settling and re- 
siding here is by official licence and particular desire 
of the former Superintendent, Francis Light, Esq., 
and that the public faith has been pledged for that 
purpose. 

" You will please to furnish me with a copy of 
your special licence, and of that document by which 
the public faith has been pledged to you. 

" I am, &c, 

(Signed) "F. E. Macdonald. 



"Mr. W.H. Ncison." 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



27 



" Forbes Ross Macdonald, Esq., Superintendent. 
"Sir, 

" I have the honour to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of 23rd, in answer to mine of 
22nd instant, wherein you demand, for the informa- 
tion of the Governor-General in Council, my au- 
thority or permission from his Majesty King George 
III. for residing in India. 

" In answer to which I beg leave to inform you, 
that I was sent out to this country by command of 
his Majesty George III., under the command and 
protection of Captain now Admiral Eainer, in the 
year 1779, and to whom, as the representative of his 
Majesty George III., I must beg leave to refer you 
for any particulars during the whole time of the last 
French war in India. 

" You also, Sir, wish to be informed by what 
licence I reside here ; in answer to which, for the 
further information of the Governor- General in 
Council, I beg also to inform you that I came down 
here on the 10th day of September, 1786, at the 
instance and recommendation of John Ferguson, 
Esquire, and Thomas Henry Davis, Esquire, Advo- 
cate to the Honourable Company, and now de- 
ceased, to the then Superintendent Francis Light, 
Esquire, with whom I not only lived, but also 
received the sacred pledge of his honour and word, 
likewise that of the Honourable Governor-General 
in Council, and not only for protection of person 



28 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and property, but also for assistance in the hazardous 
attempt to cultivate a vile jungle ; and in full 
assurance and reliance on such honourable testi- 
mony I began my operations, and have the 
pleasing satisfaction to assure you, Sir, that I am 
the man that cut the first tree, raised the first 
plant, produced and cultivated, and finally sold, the 
first estate to the Honourable Company. 

"By the public faith being pledged I allude to 
the Honourable the Governor-General in Council, 
and their orders and directions they had given the 
Superintendent, Francis Light, Esquire, for the 
purpose of inducing people to come here and settle, 
and by which means only they have at last formed 
the most flourishing settlement in the world. 

" I have, &c, 

(Signed) " William Henry Nason. 

" Penang, 2&th Sept., 1796." 

The records of the two following years (1798 and 
1799) consist wholly of a series of complaints ad- 
dressed by the Superintendent to the Supreme 
Government against the European residents on the 
island generally, and Messrs. James Scott, Young, 
Roebuck, and Nason in particular. Even a sup- 
posed Chinese conspiracy is made ground of com- 
plaints against the Europeans, as being entirely 
owing to the example and encouragement held out 
by their " systematic and contumacious opposition " 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



29 



to all the measures of the local authorities. The 
Supreme Government or the secretaries (if indeed 
they ever went through those voluminous despatches 
and still more voluminous appendices containing 
absolutely nothing but details of quarrels with indi- 
viduals) must have been heartily sick of the island 
and its affairs ; and that they did not feel quite 
satisfied that their officers were always in the right, 
seems clear, from no attention having been paid to 
their complaints, except in the case of Mr. Young, 
who, having gone to Calcutta to prosecute his com- 
plaint against the Superintendent, was prohibited 
from returning to the island in consequence of the 
violent language in which he indulged. The prohi- 
bition, however, was soon taken off on his promise 
of amendment of conduct, and of apologizing to the 
Superintendent for his violence. 

Out of a thousand closely-written folio pages one 
or two only relate to the general progress of the 
island. Viewed as the squabbles of a small and 
young settlement or colony, in which there were 
faults on both sides, the above very limited 
extracts are tiresome to peruse. But there is 
another way of looking at the matter, which must 
command earnest attention. Major Macdonald's 
opinions of his countrymen in the Far East are but 
a reflex of the opinions of his masters, the East 
India Company, to which body were granted, by 
the British Parliament, all profits and emoluments 
to be derived from the vast limits of their charter. 



30 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



The extracts serve as an illustration of the minutiae 
of the system. The impression on the mind 
of the chief authority, in one of the Company's 
settlements, seems to have been that his own 
countrymen were the worst people in the world; 
and had this impression been limited to the halluci- 
nations of his own narrow sphere, I would have 
passed it unnoticed. A disinterested Government 
would have dismissed him ; the Government that 
upheld him cannot but be implicated in his pro- 
ceedings. 

On reverting to the extracts, it will be seen that 
the domineering chief approached the settlers by 
cajoling them, in order to draw a "generous and 
liberal contribution " from their trade ; and, having 
got from them the secrets of their trade, it became 
his object to absorb the whole for himself and his 
masters. In the answers drawn from his country- 
men, there are some good home truths, not a small 
portion of true humanity, and fair political economy. 
Amongst these answers are a call for a Court of Law, 
permanent land tenure, freedom of trade, patience in 
hearing complaints, moderation of manners, and 
forbearance of temper. Last, not least, a call is 
made on the behalf of our common humanity, far in 
advance of the times in which they lived, viz., for 
the prohibition of the Slave Trade. 

To these thoroughly English suggestions, the 
Chief of the Settlement replies by invective. He 
calls his countrymen a a low set of wretches ;" and, 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 



31 



not content with that, abuses their children, "in 
whom," he says, are " all the passive vices of their 
parents." With such ideas, no wonder that he 
should recommend that Englishmen in India should 
not be allowed to have anything more than a 
" house, a garden, and a few cows" This is laugh- 
able, yet the exclusion of the English has been the 
traditional policy of the East India Company — his 
demand was an echo of that policy. India lacked 
energy, intelligence, and capital. All these could 
be supplied by overflowing England, for the benefit 
of India — to develop her latent resources — to give a 
life-spring to her teeming population. And, if 
India is to be benefited by the energy, intelligence, 
and capital of England, can this be done by shutting 
out the benefactor ? No ; the policy is suicidal ; it 
curtails the usefulness of all England. It is a species 
of monopoly which is opponent to true principle. 

Amongst the objects of the Major's spleen were 
two men of note in the Ear East, viz. — Mr. James 
Scott, the father of English merchants, and Mr. 
David Brown, the father of English planters. The 
former gentleman was eminent in pioneering mar- 
kets for British manufactures amongst the most 
remote countries of the Eastern Archipelago. By 
his enterprise, the manufactures of Manchester, 
Glasgow, Dundee, Sheffield, and Birmingham were 
distributed far and near. This new trade indirectly 
brought peace and plenty into many a household of 
his native Britain. The latter gentleman directed 



32 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



his energies and wealth to the establishment of 
plantations of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, areca, and 
sugar-cane. He persevered in these pursuits, 
through difficulties and disappointments which 
would have appalled any other man. Both these 
gentlemen were imbued strongly with a public 
spirit which rose superior to any selfish ends ; and 
they have long been revered, far arid wide, by 
natives and Europeans, for their disinterested phi- 
lanthrophy and high moral courage. 

Even at this time it is almost impossible to write 
without indignation of the humiliating position to 
which these worthies were consigned by a merce- 
nary official. Mr. James Scott, after having in- 
vested his all in his beloved settlement of Penang, 
of which he was one of the founders, was at length 
forced to confess, rather than prostitute his British 
independence, that he " belonged to Calcutta, and not 
to the Island for to the latter he was now linked 
by a flimsy tenure — viz. the will of a grammarless, 
inflated, and insolent puppet in power. 

In conversing over this story of by- gone times, 
my Malay friend Gamut's happy illustrations re- 
curred to my memory. He remarked, as we were 
paddling up the Prye Eiver one day, "That alligator, 
with his jaws wide open, is more of a knave than a 
fool; he appears to be sleeping, but he keeps his 
off-side eye well open. All the time that he is 
cajoling the flies to come and lick the sap off his 
tongue, his intentions are unamiable. No sooner 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN ALLIGATOR, ETC. 33 

do the flies buzz home truths into his ears (for they 
can speak to each other as well as you or I), and 
tickle his throat disagreeably, than down his jaws 
come, and he crushes them to death." 



CHAPTER II. 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 

For the following information I am indebted to the 
writings of Mr. J. R. Logan, the learned editor of 
" The Journal of the Indian Archipelago." (See 
Vol. I. page 307.) Although I myself have met 
parties of the aborigines in different districts of the 
Malay peninsula, I never observed them sufficiently 
to warrant my giving an independent sketch of 
them. 

It is a curious fact that such unadulterated 
savages should have remained, for upwards of 300 
years, close to the busy route of traffic pursued by 
Europeans, in the Straits of Malacca, and yet be so 
wholly unaffected in mind or manners. During the 
year 1846, the Rev. P. Eavre visited many of the 
wild tribes in the interior of the Malay peninsula, 
with the view of establishing Roman Catholic Mis- 
sions amongst them ; but I have not learned the 
result, if any. With these remarks, I leave the 
succeeding extracts from Mr. Logan's paper to 
speak for themselves. 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 



35 



cc The Mintira (one of the wild tribes) do not 
appear to have any more precise traditions respect- 
ing their origin than the Besisi and other tribes. 
They all believe that they are the original occupants 
of the country. ' You know,' said a Besisi to me, 
'that this is the Pulo Besar, or Great Island, which 
belongs to us, and not to the Malays, who have in- 
truded into our country.' The Mintira have the 
same notion, and those who lately visited me 
added, when conversing on this subject, that the 
Pulo Besar is so great that, in former ages, their 
ancestors were employed for many generations in 
endeavouring to circumambulate it ; but each gene- 
ration meeting a new country, the last of their 
nomadic forefathers settled where the race now lives. 
# m # # rp! ie g rea t superstition of the Bermun 
tribes is their best protection against their equally 
superstitious and more civilized neighbours. The 
Malays and Chusisi of Malacca, with few excep- 
tions, but particularly the Malays of Naning Ram- 
ban, and the other states in the interior, have 
implicit faith in the supernatural power of the 
Poyangs, and believe that many others amongst the 
aborigines are imbued with it. Hence they are 
careful to avoid offending them in any way ; be- 
cause, although they do not attempt, at the tirne_, 
to retaliate, or even use threats, it is believed that 
they take the offence deeply to heart, and will, 
sooner or later, by occult means, revenge them- 
selves. The Malays, when they have opportunities, 

d 2 



36 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



resort to them for the cure of diseases, with which 
they, or their relatives, are troubled. Bevenge, 
also, not unfrequently sends them to the Poyang, 
whose power they invoke to cause disease, and other 
misfortune, or even death to those who have injured 
them. 

" Amongst the Malays themselves, the tuju 
(pointing) and other supernatural arts are prac- 
tised ; but their practitioners are considered inferior 
in power to those of the aborigines. 

" The very circumstance of these tribes remaining 
unconverted is probably a principal cause of the 
belief in their possession of unhallowed powers. 
]STew creeds in all countries are received without a 
total abandonment of the ancient ones. So long as 
the existence of the old gods and demons of the 
land is credited, multitudes will ask their aid, 
and deprecate their wrath, although they be- 
lieve it is sinful to do so. To this day neither 
Hindooism, Islamism, nor Christianity itself have 
extinguished the ancient superstitions of the coun- 
tries where they prevail. * * * * Here 
I only remark with reference to the incanta- 
tions, charms, and other superstitions of the 
Mintira, that the greater part appear to be essen- 
tially native ;* that is, they have not been borrowed 
from the Hindoos or Arabs, but have assumed their 
peculiar form from the state in which the tribe has 
existed in the Peninsula, from time immemorial ; 

* The Arabic portions have been added by Malays. 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND, 



37 



while, in substance, they have been transmitted di- 
rectly from the same common source to which a 
large part of the inhabited world must refer its 
earliest superstitions. The religion of the Mintira 
is the primitive heathenism of Asia, which, spread- 
ing far to the east and the west, was associated with 
the religions of the oldest civilized nations ; for it 
flourished in ancient Egypt (before the Hebrews 
were a people), in Greece, and Borne, and bids fair 
to outlast Hindooism in many parts of India. 
* * « « The constitution of society is simple 
amongst the Mintira, as amongst the Benua of 
Johore. Perfect equality prevails. The Batin is 
not distinguished in his manner of life from the 
others. Crimes are very rare. Theft is unknown. 
Children are carefully instructed to avoid it. Their 
only education consists in teaching the boys to 
climb and cut trees, and to use the sumpitan , 
and the girls to make bags and mats. The only 
plaything used is the gassing konde, or top. 

" They have no weights. The cocoanut-shell is 
used as a measure. The musical instruments in 
general use are the salong and karanting. The 
rabana and gindang are also used. 

" Their weapons are the sumpitan, chinang kus 
(kind of sword), kris, and limbing (spear). 

" The most prevalent mental diseases are mati de 
tuju (death by pointing), sakit punan, sakit bara 
sisip, and bara terkiler. 

" There are no traders, shopkeepers, or artificers. 



38 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



" Their only resource, when troubled in mind, is 
to sing. 

" They do not bathe frequently. 

" They do not mix socially, nor intermarry with 
other Benua tribes, or with Malays. 

" Mineral medicines are unknown, and the only 
animal substance used as a remedy is the oil of the 
boa-constrictor. 

" Writing is unknown. They reckon dates by 
knots on a string. * * * * All diseases 
are caused by spirits, or the spells of men. Amongst 
the spirits of disease the most powerful are Hantu 
Hamoran, Hantu Bara Sisip, Hantu Bara Terkiler. 
These hantus cause the greatest mortality. The 
Hantu Katum-bohan (spirit of the small-pox) is held 
in such dread that the Mintira evince a repugnance 
to mention its name. The Hantu Kambong haunts 
the abodes of men to afflict them with pains in the 
belly and head. The Piniakit Punan causes pains 
and accidents to persons who have a desire to eat 
any particular article of food, and not been able to 
get it. The Hantu Saburo, or hunter spirit, dwells 
in ]akes, pools, and rivers. His body is black, and 
he has three dogs called Sokom, or black mouth. 
When one of them passes a hut, the inmates make 
a great noise, by beating pieces of wood, &c, to 
frighten him away, and the children are caught up 
and held tightly by the older people. The Hantu 
Saburo chases men in the forest by his dogs ; and, 
if they are run down, he drinks their blood. At 



THE AB0K1GINAL MIND. 



39 



the upper extremity of every stream dwells the 
Hantu Tingi. In the ground lives the Hantu 
Kamang, who causes inflammations and swellings 
in the hands and feet, so as to deprive his victims 
of the power of locomotion. The Hantu Dondang 
resides in caves and crevices in rocks. He kills 
dogs and wild hogs, with the sumpitan, and drinks 
their blood. The Hantu Penyadin is a water 
demon, with the head of a dog and the mouth 
of an alligator. He sucks blood from the thumbs 
and big toes of men, and death ensues. When he 
leaves his watery abode, he wanders about inces- 
santly in search of food until satiated, when he 
returns home. The Hantu Kayu (wood demon) 
frequents every species of tree, and afflicts men with 
diseases. Some trees are noted for the malignity of 
their demons. The Hantu Dago haunts groves, and 
assumes the forms of deer, &c, &c. * * * * 
The Poyangs and a few others only have the 
power of afflicting and destroying men by spells. 
These are of various kinds, operating in different 
ways, and rapidly or slowly. The most noted is the 
tuju (to point)." 

The following are some examples of the in- 
vocations used : — 

"Invocation of the Inwalled, (1). 

"Hong ! horn, iron, shout an offering of the wise 
to the forest in solitude ! I am not walled with stone. 
I recline walled by the Earth, my face downwards ! 



40 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Cover me, Salagori wind, from my enemies ! Tear off 
the husk within ! Hang a thick mist before the eyes 
of him who looks at me ! Come, Thick Mist, the 
concealer, and render me invisible to all my ene- 
mies, opponents, and assailants ! True, holy in- 
structor, descend, and pray that I may touch, by 
the invocation of invisibility, all the eyes of my 
enemies, opponents, and assailants." 

"Invocation of the Inwalled (2). 

" Heh pisamin, which art named Iron. I dwell 
within a fence of angels, eleven on my left : I dwell 
within a fence of angels, eleven on my right : I 
dwell within a fence of angels, eleven behind me : I 
dwell within a fence of angels, eleven before me. If 
Mahomed be oppressed, then will I be oppressed. If 
the sun, moon, and stars be not oppressed, within 
shall I be oppressed. And if the earth and heavens 
be oppressed, then shall I be oppressed. If the earth 
and heavens be not oppressed, neither shall I be 
oppressed. If the dead bodies in the grave be op- 
pressed, I also will be oppressed. Blessing to me 
through the reception of prayer of my religious 
instructor. Receive it, Mahomed ; receive it, royal 
prophet of God ! and grant that I may wear a 
prayer of one thousand lives, that I may not be 
oppressed by all that breathe upon this world !" 



" Prayer for Love. 
"Oil I stir, and stir. I pour it out. I stand 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 



41 



erect like an umbrella. I walk greater than the 
sons of all mankind. Blessing on me, using the 
prayer of love ! Love me entirely, all mankind who 
have two feet, and are five-fingered. Speak not of 
men whilst grass, twigs, and trees of the earth and 
heaven bow in love. Let all bow in affection, bow 
in love, towards me ! " 

"Prayer for Sweetness. 

" Sweet shoots, sweet leaves, I cut, running the 
while. Sitting, may I be exceedingly sweet ! 
Standing, may I be exceedingly sweet ! Sweet in 
the sight of all mankind, two-footed and five- 
fingered, as the moon and sun. Exceedingly sweet 
to be seen be the lustre of my face ! Grant that I, 
using the prayer of sweetness, a sweet lustre may 
rise over my face ! " 

" Prayer, for the Subjection of Others. 

"A nail — a low nail — I place on a sibi. When 
I sit amongst many men, may I be amongst the 
greatest, prophet of God ! Grant me the fortune 
to cut that which is called Mamu. When I sit, may 
all mankind who breathe, wholly bow. Make them 
bow, God ! Make them bow, Mahomed. Make 
them bow, royal prophet of God ! Grant that I, 
by using the prayer of obeisance, may bow down 
all men, two-footed — five-fingered. Grant it, God ! 
Grant it, Mahomed ! Grant it, royal prophet of 



42 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



God. Grant that I, using the prayer of obeisance, 
may stand before the living points of all mankind, 
two-footed, five-fingered !" 

" Invocation for Abasing. 

" Siluso padang silasa 
Throw a sulaseh branch. 
May the heart that is angry be shut ! 
May the heart that is kind be opened ! 
Aje, eje, eche, echa. 

A young lulang springs up in the waste ground. 
I am wicked — I am applauded. 
I do wrong — I am reverenced. 
Why say, amongst mankind 
Two-footed, five-toed ? 
Whilst even the white elephant — 
The streaked elephant beyond the sea — 
Reverses its hair, reverses its tusks, 
Reverses its trunk, reverses its feet, 
Reverses its front legs, reverses its veins, 
Reverses its flesh, reverses its blood, 
Bows down reverentially to the little toe of my 
left foot. 

My oil, pressed out, runs down at the side of 
the door. 

The young ngang bird is in the mid of the 

bambu. 
I strike it with a sumpitan. 
The sun is lifted up on my up-brows. 
The waves of the sea roll on my tongue. 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 



43 



The ants follow each other on my lips. 
Abase, God ! abase, Mahomed ! 
Abase, royal prophet of God !" 

"Invocation of the Tongue-breaker. 

" Dry betel-nut, dried up betel-nut — 
Cut by the foot of an elephant — 
His heart's blood I lack, his bones I break, break. 
Heh, God ! Heh, Mahomed ! Heh, royal prophet 
of God ! 

May the prayer for breaking of the tongue be 
granted, 

That I may break the tongues of enemies, foes, 

and assailants. 
Be you soft ; be I hard. 

La illahha il Allah ! bless my use of the prayer 
of the tongue-breaker." 

" Invocation to Excite Hatred. 

" Shoots of the hate-plant, leaves of the hate- 
plant. I pluck seven stalks, seven leaves. I cut 
them seven times, and cut the heart of [such an one, 
naming him~\. Look upon that person as you look 
upon ashes, as you look upon a swamp. Sitting 
hate, sleeping hate, walking hate, eating hate, 
bathing hate, drinking hate. Come, shadow of 
[such an one]. Until three days are passed, hate 
to look on \_such an one]. Look on me alone, sur- 
passingly sweet, as if you saw that which, shone 
brightly on my face ! Twelve days when the sun 



44 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



descends, let your spirit descend together with it. 
When the sun rises, let the spirit of [such an one] 
rise together with it !" 

" Invocation to Excite Hatred. 

£< Shoots of Beruwang intermix with the leaves 
of the hate-plant. By faith and sacrifice, carry 
away the heart within, with excessive hatred. 
"When you stand, hate [such an one]. When you 
walk, hate [such an one']. When you sleep, hate 
[such an one]. Speak not of mankind while even 
grass, twigs, and trees, altogether hate to look on 
[such an one]. Descend brightness in my face. If 
the night brighten, then shall the face of [such an 
one] brighten. If the night do not brighten, the 
face of [such an one] shall not brighten. I cause 
to descend the oil of sweetness. I cause to rise the 
invocation of hatred. 

" Hate ! all people, all mankind. 

" Descend ! sweetness of [such an one], 

" Bise ! prayer of hatred, on the face of [such an 
one]. Hate entirely all that breathe ! to look on 
the face [of such an one], to hear the voice [of such 
an one]." 

"A Spell used when about to Attack an 

Elephant. 

"Hong, quake! — ghost, quake! I wish to cast 
down, I wish to strike. Go to the left — go to the 
right. I cast out the ghost, quake." The elephant 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 



45 



murmurs. The elephant wallows on the opposite 
side of the lake. The pot boils, the pan boils, at the 
opposite side of the point. Go to the left — go to 
the right — go to the water-vessel, ghost of grand- 
father [the elephant to wit]. I let loose the fingers 
of my hand." 

" Another. 

" My grandfather's to me, mine to my grand- 
father. My smell, smell of water ; my smell, smell 
of leaf ; my smell, smell of earth ; my smell, smell 
of grandfather ; my smell, smell of mud ; eating 
pinang mixture, I shut grandfather's nose ; hind foot 
do not rise — hind foot is heavy ; fore foot do not rise 
— fore foot is heavy, as if there was hung a split 
stone ; as if a water-jar were hung ; move stone 
with more fore feet of grandfather ; move together ; 
move entrails ; receive the fingers and hand of 
grandchild, grandfather !" 

"Charm to Allay Storms. 

" Rambong perangoan batong ; the elephant gathers 
in, the elephant wallowing, wallowing on the oppo- 
site side of the sea ; go to the right — go to the left ; 
I break the hurricane." 

" On entering a Forest. 

" Go to the left — go to the right — all my enemies, 
opponents, and assailants ! May your regards be 

cast aside from me ! Mav I walk alone !" 



46 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



" For Protection against the Hantu Sabtjru. 

" What is your name, dog ? Sokom is your 
name, black dog. Your master's name is Water. 
Your master's name is Eiddang. Your master's 
name is Forest. Begone ; go you away ; take your 
dog away. What do you hunt here ? There are no 
hogs — no deer. The nostrils are shut — the smell 
of your nose I have charmed • my smell the wind 
carries away." 

"FOR PROTECTION AGAINST THE HANTU KaPIETU 

or Remittent Fever. 

"Hong! fever — primitive fever, fly away, be 
plucked out, uncharmed, bilantok. I cast a charm 
for fever on your head. I throw it upon your head. 
Lose the fever. May it be thrown away upon your 
head." 

44 Tankal Kambong. 

" First essential of life ! primitive life ! the devil's 
life have I charmed. The life that lodges have I 
charmed. The life that is affected have I charmed. 
I cast out the hard (evil) life. Let your spirit, the 
spirit of your life, rise and be lifted up, all the life 
in your belly, in your body, spring up and be 
drawn out. I replace all your life !" 



" Armlets are much used. They are formed of 
pieces of kunyit, bangle, and other substances, 
strung on a shred of trap-bark, and bound round 



THE ABORIGINAL MIND. 



47 



the neck, wrists, and waist. They are preserva- 
tives against demons, bad winds, and generally 
against all evils. 

" There are spells for rendering the person who 
uses them invulnerable ; but the fortunate possessors 
are careful not to impart them to others." 



The above short extracts must suffice for the 
purposes of my book. It will be seen from them 
that these savages have constructed for them- 
selves as complete a system of demonology and 
occult arts, as had the witches of Macbeth. Their 
spiritual state is akin to their temporal condition, 
prostrate and degraded as it is. What appears to 
their imaginations as sacred and venerable, to the 
scion of civilization is nothing but sordid and gro- 
velling superstition. Civilization has no time for 
these trifles. A railway train must not stop because 
a bird flies across the rails ; nor must the seed of 
the agriculturist be kept from being put into the 
ground in deference to the Jin Bumi (spirit of the 
earth). 



CHAPTEE III. 



THE MALAY AMOK. 

There are two kinds of Amok — -the Amok of the 
battle-field, and the Amok of the peaceful city or 
village. Were a Malay to witness the headlong 
rush of a forlorn hope against the bristling breach 
of a besieged city, he would call it an "amok." 
Had a Malay viewed Napoleon on the bridge of 
Lodi, he would have said that he " amoked," or, 
as the English call it, he had u run a muck." In 
the descriptions of battles, the Malay historians 
make their greatest heroes terrible amokers ; and, 
by so doing, they ascribe to them desperate bravery. 
" Amok" means to rush furiously, with a weapon, 
to slay or kill. This is the Malay " amok " of the 
battle-field. 

The cc amok " of the peaceful city or village has 
other features. It has not the brilliancy of bravery, 
but the darkness of insanity, as its instigator. Thus, if 
the maniac were to slay father or mother, wife or chil- 
dren (and this sometimes happens in happy England) 



THE MALAY AMOK. 



49 



the Malay would say that he " amoked." During 
many years' residence in Malayan lands, I had only 
personal knowledge of three or four amoks in 
city or village ; but I never witnessed one, so they 
cannot be said to be frequent. The peculiar feature 
of this species of " amok " is in the indiscriminate 
slaughter of all persons encountered by the maniac, 
and the cause of this is not to be ascribed to the 
maniac, but to the crowded state of native villages, 
and the gregarious mode of life of some of their 
inhabitants. In England, people dwell in walled 
and secure houses and rooms ; a dangerous maniac's 
career is confined to these ; but, as the Malay may 
be said to live in the open air, the maniac Malay is 
more widely dangerous. As to the comparative 
frequency of amoks in Malayan lands, this fact 
must be borne in mind — that here idiots and 
maniacs have no hospitals provided for them. In 
England, where the appliances of civilization are so 
abundant, dangerous symptoms are watched by 
friends, or by the police ; and the unfortunate 
subjects are put out of the way of doing harm to 
themselves, or others, by incarceration. It must, 
at the same time, be admitted that the Malays have 
a guilty habit of speaking of " amoking " with 
morbid gusto, and their custom of constantly wear- 
ing the kris, makes them dangerous when the 
affliction of insanity, or the excitement of bang, 
or opium, are upon them. 

The following extracts will more clearly illustrate 

E 



50 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



the nature of the Malay amok.* I need make few 
remarks further than to correct the misapprehen- 
sions of the English judge whose fanatic and mer- 
ciless sentence is happily a rarity. 

The calamity of the amok was known to the 
Malays long before Mahomedanism was introduced 
amongst them. Their histories prove that the 
Malays amoked when their religion was idolatrous. 
The members of no religion are free from the harrow- 
ing calamity of insanity. This is well understood 
in Great Britain, where asylums are so plentiful. 
In England, justice would have been tempered with 
mercy in such a case as that which I am about to 
relate. An English jury would not have convicted 
a man who was bereft of reason, as this man was, nor 
would an English judge have hanged and mutilated 
a lunatic, in whom there could be no " malice afore- 
thought." 

" On the 8th of July, 1846, Sunan, a respectable 
Malay housebuilder in Penan g, ran ' amok ' (ran a 
muck) in Chuliah- street and Penang-road ; and, 
before he was arrested, killed an old Hindoo woman, 
a Kling, a Chinese boy, and a Kling girl about 
three years old, in the arms of its father, and 
wounded two Hindoos, three Klings, and two 
Chinese, of whom only two survived. At his trial 
it appeared that he was greatly afflicted by the 
recent loss of his wife and child, which preyed upon 
his mind, and quite altered his appearance. A 

* See " Journ. Indian Archipelago," vol. iii., p. 460. 



THE MALAY AMOK. 



51 



person with whom he had lived up to the 15th 
of June, said further : * He used to bring his child 
to his work ; since its death he has worked for me ; 
he often said he could not work, as he was afflicted 
by the loss of his child. I think he was out of his 
mind ; he did not smoke or drink ; I think he was 
mad.' On the morning of the ' amok ' this person 
met him, and asked him to work at his boat. He 
replied, ' that he could not, as he was very much 
afflicted.' He had his hands concealed under his 
clothes : he frequently exclaimed f Allah ! Allah I' 
He daily complained of the loss of his wife and 
child. On the trial, Sunan declared that he did 
not know what he was about, and persisted in this 
at his execution, adding, 6 As the gentlemen say I 
have committed so many murders, I suppose it must 
be so.' The 6 amok ' took place on the 8th, the 
trial on the 13 th, and the execution on the 15th 
July — all within eight days ! The following is the 
sentence of death upon Sunan, convicted of running 
' amok,' by Sir William Norris, Recorder : — 

" Sunan, you stand convicted, on the clearest evi- 
dence, of the wilful murder of Pakir Sah, on Wed- 
nesday last ; and it appears that, on the same 
occasion, you stabbed no less than ten other un- 
fortunate persons, only two of whom are at present 
surviving. It now becomes my duty to pass on you 
the last sentence of the law. I can scarcely call it 
a painful duty, for the blood of your innocent 
victims cries aloud for vengeance ; and both justice 

E 2 



52 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



and humanity would be shocked were you permitted 
to escape the infamy of a public execution. God 
Almighty alone, the great searcher of hearts, can 
tell precisely what passed in that wretched heart of 
yours before and at the time you committed those 
atrocious deeds ; nor is it necessary for the ends of 
justice that we should perfectly comprehend the 
morbid views and turbulent passions by which you 
must have been actuated. It is enough for us to 
know that you, like all other murderers, had not 
the fear of God before your eyes ; and that you 
acted of malice aforethought, and by the instigation 
of the devil himself, who was a murderer from the 
beginning. But all the atrocities that you have 
committed are of a peculiar character, and such 
as are never perpetrated by Christians, Hindoos, 
Chinese, or any other class than Mahomedaris, 
especially Malays, among whom they are fright- 
fully common, and therefore may be justly recorded, 
by way of infamous distinction, as Mahomedan 
murders, I think it right, therefore, seeing so great 
a concourse of Mahomedans in and about the Court, 
to take this opportunity of endeavouring to dis- 
abuse their minds, and your own, of any false 
notions of courage, heroism, or self-devotion which 
Mahomedans possibly, but Mahomedans alone, of 
all mankind, can ever attach to such base, cowardly, 
and brutal murders — notions which none but the 
devil himself, the father of lies, could ever have in- 
spired. But if such false, execrable, and dangerous 



THE MALAY AMOK. 



53 



delusions really are entertained by any men, or body 
of men, whatever, it may be as well to show, from 
the gloomy workings of your mind, so far as cir- 
cumstances have revealed them, that not a particle 
of manly courage or heroism could have animated 
you, or can ever animate any man who lifts his 
cowardly hand against helpless women and children. 
You had lately, it seems, been greatly afflicted by 
the sudden deaths of your wife and only child, and 
God forbid that I should needlessly harrow up your 
feelings by reverting to the subject. I do so merely 
because it serves, in some degree, to explain the 
dreadful tragedy for which you are now about to 
answer with your life. Unable or unwilling to 
submit with patience to the affliction with which 
it had pleased God to visit you, you abandoned 
yourself to discontent and despair, until shortly 
before the bloody transaction, when you went to 
the mosque to pray I — to pray to whom, and to 
what ? Not to senseless idols of wood or stone, 
which Christians and Mahomedans equally abomi- 
nate — but to the one omniscient and almighty and 
all-merciful God, in whom alone Christians and 
Mahomedans profess to believe ! But in what 
spirit did you pray, if you prayed at all ? Did you 
pray for resignation, or ability to humble yourself 
under the mighty hand of God ? Impossible ! 
You may have gone to curse in your heart, and 
gnash with your teeth \ but certainly not to pray, 
whatever unmeaning sentences of the Koran may 



54 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



have issued from your lips. Doubtless you entered 
the mosque with a heart full of haughty pride, 
anger, and rebellion against your Maker, and so no 
wonder that you sallied forth again overflowing with 
hatred and malice against your innocent fellow- 
creatures ; no wonder that, when thus abandoned to 
the devil, you stabbed with equal cruelty, cowardice, 
and ferocity, unarmed and helpless men, women, and 
children, who had never injured, never known, pro- 
bably never seen you before. 

" Such are the murders which Mahomedans alone 
have been found capable of committing. Not that 
I mean to brand Mahomedans in general as worse 
than all other men — far from it ; I believe there are 
many good men among them — as good as men can 
be who are ignorant of the only true religion. I 
merely state the fact that such atrocities disgrace 
no other creed, let the Mahomedans account for 
the fact as they may ; but whatever may be the 
true explanation, whether these fiendish excesses 
are the result of fanaticism, superstition, over- 
anxiety, pride, or ungovernable rage, or (which is 
probable) of all combined,- — public justice demands 
that the perpetrators should be visited with the 
severest and most disgraceful punishment which the 
law can inflict. 

" The sentence of the court therefore is, that you, 
Sunan, be remanded to the place from whence you 
came, and that on the morning of Wednesday next 
you be drawn from thence on a hurdle to the place 



THE MALAY AMOK. 



55 



of execution, and there hanged by the neck until 
you are dead. Your body will then be handed 
over to the superior for dissection, and your mangled 
limbs, instead of being restored to your friends for 
decent interment, will be cast into the sea, thrown 
into a ditch, or scattered on the earth at the dis- 
cretion of the sheriff. And may Grod Almighty 
have mercy on your miserable soul!" 

A terrible sentence, and not in the spirit of 
English law, which admits not of the " cry for 
vengeance." The editor of the journal of the ' Indian 
Archipelago ' remarks upon it as follows : — 

" The picture which we have above presented 
suggests many reflections pointing different ways, 
some exceedingly painful, which we suppress. Is 
it well that justice should so closely imitate revenge 
as almost to kill the criminal red-handed ? Is it 
well that justice should proceed to the execution of 
its office while the blood of the victim is hardly yet 
dry, and its cry too powerful to permit of a calm' 
and deliberate exercise of the judgment ? Had the 
trial not followed so rapidly on the crime, is it not 
possible that a different view might have been 
taken of the condition of mind under which the 
criminal acted ? But passing these, and some still 
graver thoughts, let us ask if a government which 
merely kills a Malay who runs £ amok ' does its 
duty ? Is this killing, which it does perform, any 
benefit to society ? and is there nothing which it 
fails to perform that might tend to put an end to 



56 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



these dreadful tragedies ? These amoks result from 
an idiosyncracy, or peculiar temperament common 
amongst Malays — a temperament which all who 
have had intercourse with them must have ob- 
served, although they cannot account for, or tho- 
roughly understand. It consists in a proneness to 
chronic disease of feeling, resulting from a want of 
moral elasticity, which leaves the mind a prey to 
the pain of grief, until it is filled with a malignant 
gloom and despair, and the whole horizon of ex- 
istence is overcast with blackness. If the reader 
thinks we have sketched the progress of a mono- 
maniac, we answer that the great majority of peng- 
amolcs are monomaniacs." 

Then follow certain suggestions as to the measures 
the English Government might introduce to eradi- 
cate amoks and piracies. But these are too wide 
fields of speculation — too wide to be discussed here. 
The sanguine but philanthropic suggestions of the 
learned Editor I fear must wait practical attainment 
till the time when a new London, a new Paris, a 
new Washington, and a new St. Petersburg have 
been reared on the shores of the North Pacific, 
whose energetic and enterprising inhabitants have 
been brought into close juxtaposition to regions of 
the Far East. Then may a European and Christian- 
izing influence penetrate each Pulo, Silat, and 
Tulloh (islet, strait, and bay), giving to the well- 
disposed peace, and to the well-doing plenty. 
Work, healthy work, is the great want of the native 



THE MALAY AMOK. 



57 



of Malayan lands. The busy habits of the European 
being diffused amongst the listless and apathetic 
Malaynesian would set them to work for some 
useful purpose, and keep them out of mischief. 
The Dutch have done much towards this end in 
Java. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



SLAVERY. 

Slavery, as an institution amongst a people, is an 
evidence of their having entered into the second 
grade of the human family. In the infancy of a 
nation, in their primeval savage state, there can be 
no organization of society, no individual property, 
no artificial wants. All must be in a state of brute 
equality. There can be no property even in a 
slave. As long as the mere satisfying of hunger is 
the only ambition or necessity, all the individuals of 
a tribe may remain in a state of equality ; no one 
need have precedence over the other. But, as the 
tribe grows in numbers, and the area whence they 
derive their subsistence narrows proportionately, 
then will the strong and the brave have an ad- 
vantage over the weak and cowardly. Equality 
will then end, and the powerful will expand his 
consequence and consult his ease by enslaving his 
neighbour. The wars of tribes consequent upon 
their increase of numbers, and collisions of interests, 



SLAVERY. 



59 



will afford a supply of human helps, or slaves to main- 
tain that consequence and ease. When this takes 
place the second step is taken in the growth of 
human families — in their course towards becoming 
a nation. Slavery is the proof of that progress, 
such as it is. 

Slavery must consequently be a very ancient 
institution, preceding the coinage of money, or other 
medium of exchange. For where there was no money 
to pay, labour had not yet a market. Slavery will 
be found to have permeated all tribes that have 
advanced beyond the aboriginal state, from Scandi- 
navia to New Zealand, and from Labrador to Cape 
Horn. It cannot be denied to be useful in its 
time and age ; and there are doubts as to its being 
sinful. It is to a young nation what manure is to 
the growing vegetable, of disagreeable odour, but 
stimulating in its effects. When the mind of a 
nation is young, and its moral perceptions yet 
blunt, slavery grates not on the nerves of the public. 
Its effects, on such a nation, are eminently utilita- 
rian ; its results bring wealth to the upper stratum 
of society and power to the leaders of the people. 
It is an industrial resource for creating raw produce, 
or goods for barter. It supports and strengthens 
a growing community. Slavery, in its national age, 
is nurtured by the amiable, sustained by the good, 
upheld by the religious. It is hugged, caressed, 
and clung to, as the most valued of institutions, by 
the patriotic. 



60 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Slavery extends to the middle period of a people's 
progress towards true greatness. The last step in a 
nation's progress to the higher phase to which a 
people are permitted to attain ignores slavery and 
casts it off as an accursed thing. A nation refined 
by literature, arts, and science, illuminated by 
books, periodicals, and newspapers — a nation in 
which the people, from highest to lowest, are 
capable of reading, writing, and understanding, — ■ 
and who, from lord to peasant, watch and ponder 
on passing events — can have no slaves amongst 
them. Slavery could not exist a day amongst such, 
nor is it necessary, where there is general activity 
and intelligence, aided by machinery and ingenious 
contrivances, — where the lowest manual labour is 
made into skilled labour, there must be abundant 
recompense to the holder. In such a community or 
nation the artificial appliances bring comfort and 
plenty — at the same time an universal necessity for 
exertion in every individual. Here labour is rapidly 
exchanged for its representative — money — and * 
money must be exchanged for food where money is 
paid for labour. How could unpaid slavery exist 
amongst such a people? Were there slaves, the 
constant precept and example of the multitude would 
make serfdom unbearable — death rather than slavery 
would soon be courted. 

Abundant examples in the terrestrial globe in 
this year, 1864, could be pointed out of tribes and 
nations in the three states of mankind. Slavery 



SLAVERY. 



61 



will be only found in the middle state as I have 
described it. Abundant examples could be drawn 
from the history of past ages, in the same manner • 
but we must avoid this inquiry. Suffice it to say 
that slavery has given trouble to the world from the 
times of Abraham, the father of the faithful, and 
long previously, down to Abraham Lincoln, the 
father of the faithless ; and I fear it will continue to 
do so. 

But to return to my subject : Slavery in the Far 
East. It has existed from time immemorial in the 
Malayan Archipelago, and to within recent dates 
has been participated in by European powers, within 
British territories ; though abolished by law, it was 
in many parts yet in practical existence amongst 
the natives. The Asiatic, with surprising facility, 
complies in form with what appear to him the 
whims and caprices of his European lawgiver ; aod, 
while he does so, he contrives to cling to the cus- 
toms of his ancestors. As an instance of this, 
I may allude to my observations in Province Wel- 
lesley, in the Malay Peninsula. Here most, if not 
all the leading natives, held men and women, whom 
they termed amongst themselves hamba (or slave), 
but whom they called, when speaking to Europeans, 
orang ber utang (or debtors). These were held to 
service in a manner much akin to that of slavery. 
The leading natives, twenty-five years ago, seldom 
or never employed labourers on wages — but they 
retained about their villages numerous slave debtors, 



62 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



who, having been bought or transferred with a 
certain debt upon them, had to give their time and 
labour to the creditor by way of paying the interest 
of the debt. This was another mode of avoiding in 
name the taking of interest, which Mahomedans 
consider unlawful. Thus the slave debtor cultivated 
a certain tract of his master creditor's estate, giving 
all the produce to his superior, excepting what was 
enough for his own maintenance. Further, the slave 
debtor was bound to be at his superior's call, at any 
moment by night or by day. And such was the 
moral turpitude of the lower classes of natives, that 
even if freed by design or accident, a few months 
would not pass over their heads before they had 
sold themselves again into this species of bondage. 
They did this to gain a livelihood, for they found 
themselves too lazy to do this for themselves without 
having the spur of a master to urge them to work 
Slavery appeared to be natural to them ; and, in this 
light species of it, they seemed to be comfortable and 
contented under the yoke. 

Traffic in slaves was put down by British law 
under very severe penalties. The wealthier classes 
of natives, therefore, (no doubt under legal advice,) 
kept clear of the pains and penalties by the inven- 
tion of debtor servants. This did not prevent the 
transfer of these debtor servants, from one master 
to another ; nor did the ignorant subject of the 
transaction feel aggrieved at this usage. But no 
doubt the ugly features of the traffic, such as it was 



SLAVEEY. 



63 



within British territory, were much alleviated by 
the knowledge of its illegality on the part of the 
masters. The price of a slave-debtor was, twenty- 
five years ago, about twelve Spanish dollars, which 
might represent the annual value of the labour of 
such slave. It will thus be seen that the invest- 
ment returned cent, per cent, per annum by way of 
interest on the capital — a usury in which the Ma- 
homedans had no objection to participate. Isolated 
instances of cruelty to slaves have come under my 
notice ; but, on the whole, they led an easy and 
thoughtless life. They were not subjected, as in 
Anglo-Saxon America, to work ten hours every day, 
with the lash at their backs. 

The climate of the Far East is an effectual barrier, 
as far as human eye can see, to the real progress of 
the natives in their path towards civilization or true 
freedom. The hot tepid climate weakens the body, 
and palls the energies, affecting the mind with list- 
lessness and apathy; and, when the mind is not 
strong enough to govern the body, as Abdulla bin 
Abdul-Kader correctly remarks, the individual is 
only fit to be the slave of another. The natives of 
the tropics concur in this sentiment, and abandon 
themselves to the institution of slavery in their 
social system. 

The effect on families indulging in slave-holding, 
is to deteriorate their position and ultimately to 
drag them down and immerse them in the sordid 
crowd. The slaves too often have intimate ties 



64 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



with the master's family, and the son of a slave 
becomes the head of a house. In Great Britain, 
where purity of descent is so highly valued — where 
lord or baron counts back many centuries of legiti- 
mate descent, and where even the peasant tells of 
generations of honest though it may be humble 
forefathers, there is a conservatism highly honour- 
able. Slavery in a community soon dissipates con- 
servatism of this class, and lowers the proud, the 
wealthy, and the noble, to the level of a prostrate, 
sunken, and ignoble race. 

Between natives of the temperate arid torrid 
zones there must always remain a difference of 
sentiment on this important subject — a difference 
irreconcilable. In a country such as Great Bri- 
tain, where the purity of family ties, the modesty 
of women, and the faithfulness of husbands are so 
highly estimated, there can be no agreement of 
sentiment with the men of many wives and nu- 
merous concubines. To the one, the introduction 
of the slave element into a household would be a 
source of the greatest anxiety and trouble ; to the 
other, it is simply the natural state of things in 
their social system. What is called morality in 
England has no meaning or office there — hence the 
difference. Families in Great Britain are preserved 
for generations. Families in India spring up and 
die like Jonah's gourd. Slavery is a comfortable 
institution to the latter. It panders to the appetite 
of the day, for to-morrow they are not. 



CHAPTER V. 



POLYGAMY. 

Polygamy is the sister of slavery, and is unknown 
in the primitive state of savageness of infant com- 
munities ; and polygamy is to monogamy in the 
human race what fire is to water in the elements ; it 
is utterly opponent in principle. Both principles 
may permeate the whole earth, from the frigid to 
the torrid zones, in certain conditions of the human 
populations ; but, generally speaking, polygamy is 
the institution of warm climates — monogamy that 
of temperate zones. On these subjects, as on 
slavery, irreconcilable differences of opinion will be 
found between the intellectual native of the north 
and the sensual native of the south. Plant mono- 
gamy as an institution in the heart of Africa, or in 
the southern plains of Asia, and leave it to stand 
without the external support, countenance, and 
nurture of European influence and example, and it 
would quickly wither and die out. In the same 
way, plant the institution of polygamy amongst a 
civilized northern nation, and its days would be 

F 



66 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



short. It would have the fate of an exotic; it 
would quickly perish. Either institution is affected 
by the mutations of tribes on the earth. Thus 
polygamy is dying out amongst the northern 
Mahomedans and Turks, while it is reviving 
amongst the Southern and Anglo-Saxon Christians 
of the United States. Mormonism has sprung out 
of the enervating climate of the basin of the Mis- 
sissippi, and Utah is now a recognized state of the 
New World. 

In these two important phases of human exist- 
ence, as in the case of slavery, much depends on 
climate and the physical condition of the people. 
Looking at the almost universal existence of poly- 
gamy over the ancient known world, as well me- 
diaeval as modern, we have reason to exclaim, that it 
is a great event in the history of a people, tribe, or 
nation, when their women assert their true dignity, 
and demand the institution of monogamy. To attain 
this position she must bring witli her unsullied 
chastity, keen moral and intellectual perceptions. 
These are not the gifts of the women of all nations ; 
and, consequently, where she has them not, her power 
is weakened, and her fair interests are sacrificed. 

It is a universal truth that woman's interests and 
aspirations are founded on chastity. This is tri- 
umphantly the case in all regions. Yet the soil of 
her birth is not always kindly. In the regions of 
the tropics, and adjacent latitudes, her want of phy- 
sical strength fails to support her force of character, 



POLYGAMY. 



67 



a burning climate prematurely destroys her beauty 
and her power to please. In her weaknesses and 
early decay she attains not to the proud and dis- 
tinguished position occupied by her sisters of the 
Far North. 

These circumstances particularly strike the ob- 
server on his return from a long sojourn in the 
tropics, when he mixes again amongst the circles 
of North Western Europe. As a simple and 
practical illustration, I remember, when spending 
some months in the chaste and frigid metropolis 
of North Britain, I attempted to describe to an 
intellectual, it may be over - strait - laced, young 
lady the manners and customs of the Chinese 
household. She was curious to know the arrange- 
ments, not only of the household economy, but of 
the social economy. Her questions at length 
dipped into the secret chambers of the harem. I 
acknowledged personal ignorance, but detailed the 
information obtained from the many and familar 
conversations with my Celestial friends Chan Guan, 
Kockchai, and others. I was innocently explicit 
in stating the humble relation of the wives of the 
Chinese to their lords and masters — their subjection, 
close confinement, and rigid seclusion from society. 
I spared her feelings by excluding the concubines 
from my descriptions. I say I was innocently de- 
scribing the condition of her Chinese sisters, when 
suddenly she arose, and, with an air of offended 
dignity, exclaimed, " Sure, Sir, you don't wear a tail ?" 

p 2 



G8 



LIFE IN THE FAU EAST. 



Startled at her vehemence, I remarked, " Pardon 
me, Madame, your position is a highly honourable 
and privileged one, and I do not wonder at the 
disgust you evince on your hearing of the condition 
of your Far Eastern sisters." The behaviour of 
this young lady has often recurred to my memory 
as being highly characteristic of her descent from 
the ancient virtuous German dames, and 1 honoured 
her accordingly. It is this spirit, maintained by 
the conscious power of such high gifts as purity 
of mind and nobleness of intellect, that dashes the 
libertinism of polygamy to the dust, and makes it 
a filthy, unclean, degraded thing. 

Now, let us turn to the other side, viz., — Poly- 
gamy in the Far East. The institution may be said 
to be universal there. The Pagans observe no other 
law. The Mahomedans are restricted to four wives 
by their laws ; but, curiously enough, they may 
have no end of concubines. Thus they reverse the 
European laws of morality. In the Asiatic inde- 
pendent states, and in the outlying settlements, 
Europeans very generally availed themselves of the 
license of the country, and gradually became natives 
in manners, mind, and habits ; but in the larger 
English settlements, marriage with their country- 
women, or with Anglo-Indians, was becoming 
gradually more common than it used to be. In 
the early days of European settlement in the Far 
East, the practices of their fathers were less observed 
than the license of the Asiatics. And what was 



POLYGAMY. 



69 



the cause of this state of things? This question 
can scarcely be understood in Europe. It has often 
been discussed by travellers, as well as by theorists : 
let me see if I can make my own observations 
lucid : — 

That the native women of the Far East are 
utterly uneducated is no reason why they should 
either inherit virtue or vice ; for history tells us that 
the virtuous German dames were also unacquainted 
with letters. We must look to other causes to 
account for their institutions. The women of the 
Far East are marriageable at the age of eleven 
years. At this age their parents so little trust to 
the mind of their child being able to control her 
desires, that they get her disposed of, either by 
marriage or by sale. At the age of twenty the 
woman is the mother of a family. At twenty-five, 
she is becoming wrinkled. At thirty, she is becom- 
ing withered. She may be a great- grandmother at 
forty ; and by the time she is fifty, she may be the 
mat arch over several generations. 

Between eleven and fifteen she is in her prime. 
At this time she commands her husband's attentions, 
but not his respect ; and, being mindless, she does 
not gain an influence (at least, rarely). Thus, as 
years flow rapidly by, affection cools, the wrinkles, 
leprosy, scrofula, and cutaneous diseases so common 
amongst the natives of the tropics, make sad havoc 
on the living woman that was once beautiful. The 
husband can no longer draw to himself the mindless 



70 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



thing, whose decayed and diseased outward form 
repels him; and thus the connection ends. The 
old wife is put on the shelf ; another creature takes 
her turn in the harem. This is a practical expo- 
sition of polygamy. Burning with sensuality to- 
day ; cold, unfeeling, petrifying, to-morrow. This 
is an European's views. But the Asiatics are less 
sensitive. Their social system has run in different 
grooves, from time immemorial ; what is expected, 
jars not ; both actors sink down to the fate that 
inexorable custom and habit dictate. . 

We may ask, when will the woman of the Far 
East attain to the position of the woman of 
Christian Europe, and demand of the man, " Wilt 
thou love me, comfort me, and keep me in sickness 
and in health, and_, forsaking all others, keep me 
only unto thee, so loog as both shall live ? v Echo 
answers — When ? 

While discussing these subjects, let us make a 
few general observations before leaving them. The 
ancient historian Herodotus mentions that the Isse- 
dones, a far Northern race, were " accounted just, 
and the women have equal authority with the men, 
(Melpomene, 26.) If such were true then, we may 
depend upon it that the women had neither their 
feelings nor their interests sacrificed to the whims 
and lusts of their male countrymen. Chastity in 
the married life would be one of the institutions of 
the old Issedones. At that same old period, polygamy 
was indulged in by the Greeks, J e ws, and Egyptians, 



POLYGAMY. 



71 



and, it may be, by all Southern Europeans ; and 
this custom was handed down to the times ot 
Tacitus, who, in his ' Germanica,' remarks that the 
Germans iC alone, among almost all barbarians, are 
content with a single wife." Amongst northern 
Christians, polygamy has received no support, 
though in particular instances it has been sug- 
gested. Thus Bernardus Ochinus, in the 16th 
century, published "Dialogues in favour of Poly- 
gamy." The same institution was favoured in 
modern times by the Rev. W. Madan, in his 6 The- 
lyphthora.' (Brit. Encyclo.) 

Notwithstanding these specks on a bright horizon, 
polygamy has had no seat in Northern Europe. 
" Germany, the mother of northern nations," says 
Gibbon, " in her ancient and primeval ages, reared 
men who were brave, and brought forth women that 
were chaste. Divorces were prohibited by manners 
rather than by law. Adultery was punished as 
a rare and unexpiable crime. The Germans 
treated their wives with esteem and confidence, 
consulted them on every affair of consequence. Con- 
scious pride taught the German matrons to suppress 
every tender emotion which stood in competition with 
honour, and the first honour of the sex ever has been 
that of chastity.* * * * # The warlike Germans 
who first resisted, then invaded, and at length over- 
turned, the western monarchy of Rome," Gibbon 
adds, " will occupy a much more important pkce in 
this history ( ' The Decline and Fall of the Roman 



72 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Empire'), and possess a stronger and, if we may 
use the expression, a more democratic claim to our 
attention and regard. The most civilized nations of 
modern Europe issued from the woods of Germany ; 
and, in the rude institutions of these barbarians, we 
may still distinguish the original principles of our 
present laws and manners." 

To this the more modern writer may add that, 
in glancing at the whole world, how largely has it 
not been affected by the brave and virtuous German 
element? Scan the wide-spreading colonies, and 
there that element will be found implanted by the 
most civilized nations of modern Europe— ^the off- 
spring of Germany. Observe how their influence 
has spread westward from Anglo-Saxon Britain, 
across the Atlantic to New Plymouth, thence over 
boundless regions to the North Pacific. The people 
planted over broad North America emulate the 
virtues of fatherland, and perpetuate her chaste 
institutions. Eastward the same, or at least a 
cognate race, it may be the children of the ancient 
Issedones, spreads its influences ; it is true, more 
sparsely from the Baltic to the Sea of Okhotsh, 
thence across Behring's Straits to Sitka. A people 
adhering to homogeneous principles has spread 
over and taken root in all these regions — the better 
half of the whole globe ; and on they will proceed, 
over all temperate latitudes, supplanting and driving 
before them the debasing institutions of such 
Mahomedan and Pagan nations as stand in their 



POLYGAMY. 



73 



way. South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand 
are being planted with the same principles and 
people ; and South America, from the La Plata to 
Cape Horn, will, ere long, follow in their wake. 

Keith Johnstone, in his Moral and Statistical Chart, 
shows the regions of the separate religious beliefs. 
It is a most interesting document. The antipathy 
of oil to water could not be more lucidly represented 
than by his drops of Christians amongst the seas of 
Pagans and Mahomedans. A similar chart, repre- 
senting the areas of the opponent elements of the 
human system, viz., — the institutions of polygamy 
and monogamy, — would be a fit subject for the art 
of that great geographer. Let us imagine how it 
would look : — A comparatively narrow belt of mono- 
gamy would be sure to stretch from California to 
Newfoundland, holding near the banks of the Sat- 
cachawan and the St. Lawrence on its northern 
borders, and filtering southwards to Arkansas and 
Tennessee. Again, a broader belt would be seen to 
stretch from western Europe to Obi, thence in 
intervals to Kamschatcka, holding by the Arctic 
Ocean in its northern borders, and near to the 
Mediterranean and Black Seas southwards. The 
above regions are the great seats of monogamy ; in 
all other parts it would be represented on a map by 
small dots, the largest of which would be found in 
South Africa, Australia, Chili, and La Plata. Over 
all the boundless regions of Central America and 
Africa, a portion of Southern Europe, and all 



74 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



Southern Asia, there would be seen small dots of 
monogamy at wide intervals, for here and there 
Mahomedan or Pagan polygamy does not prevail, 
but Christian polygamy is found amongst the in- 
habitants. 

Thus polygamy, or its analogous feature polygyny, 
has its distinctly marked regions, and it will be seen 
at a glance that monogamy is the native of tem- 
perate latitudes — polygamy that of warm regions. 
The line of division could be drawn on one of Mer- 
cator's maps with little divergence from actual 
truth • and, like the atmosphere in which we live 
and have our breath, human sentiment, on these 
vital principles of society, will be found to have 
its birthplaces, its directions, progressions, calms 
and storms. And in the borders they will be 
found to rage and war with each other, as the 
sirocco does against the north wind, breaking in 
here like the typhoon, destroying God's people, and 
bursting out yonder like the changing monsoon, 
spreading devastation in their paths. 



CHAPTEE VI 



MAHOMEDAN PKOSELYTISM. 

The Editor of " The Journal of the Indian Archi- 
pelago " (Yol. iii., page 457) says, " To ascertain 
the influence of Mahomedanism on the lives and 
literature of the Malays^ and other Islamized in- 
habitants of the Archipelago, we shall from time to 
time draw the attention of our readers to such of 
the principles, doctrines, habits, traditions, and 
literature of Mahomedanism as appear to us to 
exercise or illustrate its influence. In this, as in 
other parts of our miscellaneous contributions and 
extracts, we shall aim at presenting the impressions 
made on different orders of minds by the facts 
observed in connection with the subject, sometimes 
with and sometimes without comments of our own. 
This apposition of views will excite more interest, 
and be more likely to lead to true conclusions, than 
the mere explanation of our own opinions. Besides, 
the subject is a complex one, and needs many minds 
to apprehend it in its various phases. 



76 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



"Why have Mahomedan been more successful 
than Christian Missionaries in the Indian 
Archipelago ?" 

" Many circumstances contributed to frustrate the 
effects of their zeal. The instructors were ignorant 
of the language, the habits, and manners of the 
natives. The manners of Europe were at direct 
variance with those of the East : the Europeans, by 
their intemperance, and, above all, by their avarice 
and rapacity, brought their religion into odium ; 
and it happened unluckily, that, but a very little 
time before the commencement of their intercourse, 
the people of the Archipelago had received a new 
religion, more popular, because introduced with 
more skill, and under circumstances more agreeable 
to the genius of their character, state of society, 
and temporal prosperity. Had not, however, 
the violence, injustice, and rapacity of the first 
Europeans estranged the natives from their worship, 
they were still in time enough ; for scarcely was 
the Mahomedan religion anywhere fully established. 
The greater number of the people of the Moluccas 
and neighbouring isles were Pagans ; so were many 
of the Javanese, and even many of the inhabitants 
of Malacca. 

" The success of the Mahomedan missionaries 
contrasted with the failure of the Christian ; it is 
not difficult to trace the true cause. The Arabs 
and other Mahomedan missionaries conciliated the 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



77 



natives of the country — acquired their language — 
followed their manners — intermarried with them — 
and melting into the mass of the people, did not, on 
the one hand, give rise to a privileged race, nor, on 
the other, to a degraded caste. Their superiority of 
intelligence and civilization was employed only for 
the instruction and conversion of a people the 
current of whose religious opinions was ready to be 
directed into any channel with which it could be 
skilfully diverted. They were merchants, as well as 
the Europeans, but never dreamt of having recourse 
to the iniquitous measure of plundering the people of 
the produce of their soil and industry. This was 
the cause which led to the success of the Mahome- 
dans, and it was naturally the very opposite course 
which led to the defeat of the Christians. The 
Europeans in the Indian Archipelago have been 
just what the Turks have been in Europe ; and the 
consequence of the policy pursued by both may 
fairly be quoted as parallel cases. 

" John Crawfurd." 

"The Truth and Power that is in 
" Mahomed anism. 

" But there is another thing to be said about the 
Mahomedan heaven and hell : — this ; namely, that 
however gross and material they may be, they are 
an emblem of an everlasting truth, not always 
remembered so well elsewhere. That gross sensual 
paradise of his — that horrible naming hell — the 



78 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



great enormous day of judgment he perpetually 
insists in — what is all this but a rude shadow in 
the rude Bedouin imagination, of that grand 
spiritual fact and beginning of facts which it is 
ill for us, too, if we do not all know and feel — the 
infinite nature of duty? That man's actions here 
are of infinite moment to him, and never die or end 
at all ? that man, with his little life, reaches up- 
wards as high as heaven, downwards low as hell ? 
and, in his three score years of time, holds an eter- 
nity fearfully and wonderfully hidden ? All this had 
burnt itself, as in flame characters, into the wild 
Arab soul. As in flame and lightning it stands 
written there — awful — unspeakable — ever present to 
him. With bursting earnestness, with a fierce, 
savage sincerity — half articulating, yet not able to 
articulate — he strives to speak it — bodies it forth in 
that heaven and hell. Bodied forth in what way 
you will, it is the first of all truths. It is venerable 
under all embodiments. What is the chief end of 
man here below? Mahomed has answered this 
question in a way that might put some of us to 
shame. He does not, like a Bentham, or a Paley, 
take right and wrong, and calculate the profit and 
loss, the ultimate pleasure of one or the other, and, 
summing up all, by addition and subtraction, into a 
net result, ask you whether, on the whole, the right 
does not preponderate considerably ? No, it is not 
better to do the one than the other : the one is to 
the other as life is to death — as heaven is to hell. 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



79 



The one must in nowise be done ; the other in 
nowise be left undone. You shall not measure 
them ; they are incommensurable : the one is death 
eternal to man, the other is life eternal. Ben- 
thamic utility, virtue by profit and loss ; reducing 
this God's world to a dead brute steam-engine, the 
infinite celestial soul of man to a kind of hay- 
balance, for weighing hay and thistles on, pleasures 
and pains on. If you ask me which gives, Mahomed 
or they, the beggarlier and falser view of man and 
his destinies in this universe, I will answer, it is 
not Mahomed ! 

" On the whole, we will repeat that the religion 
of Mahomed is a kind of Christianity ; — has a 
genuine element of what is spiritually highest 
looking through it, not to be hidden by all its 
imperfections. The Scandinavian God ivith the 
God of all rude men — this has been enlarged into 
a heaven by Mahomed ; but a heaven symbolical of 
sacred duty, and to be earned by faith and well- 
doing — by valiant action, and a divine patience, 
which is still more valiant. It is Scandinavian 
paganism, and a truly celestial element superadded 
to that. Call it not false ; look not at the false- 
hood of it — look at the truth of it. For these 
twelve centuries it has been the religion and life- 
guidance of the fifth part of the whole kindred of 
mankind. Above all things, it has been a religion 
heartily believed. These Arabs believe their reli- 
gion, and try to live by it ! No Christians since 



80 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



the early ages — or only perhaps the English Puri- 
tans in modern times — have ever stood by their 
faith as the Moslems do by theirs, believing it 
wholly, fronting time and eternity with it. This 
night the watchman on the streets of Cairo, when 
he cries, £ Who goes ?' will hear from the passenger, 
along with his answer, ' There is no God, but God.' 
Allah akbar Islam sounds through the souls and 
whole daily existence of these dusky millions. 
Zealous missionaries preach it abroad among the 
Mala}^s, black Papuans, brutal idolaters ; displacing 
what is worse, but nothing that is better, or as 
good. 

"Thomas Carlyle." 

It is double-distilled impertinence in a humble 
and unknown Author to call in question the dicta of 
such great men ; but as my judgment leads me to 
differ, I will put my sentiments on paper, for, with 
all my obscurity, I can plead the experience of very 
close and intimate knowledge of Asiatic Mahome- 
dans, which neither of these two can do. 

Crawfurd appears to attribute the want of success 
of Christian missionaries to the following : — 

1st. European ignorance of native languages. 
2nd. European variance of manners. 
3rd. European intemperance. 
4th. European rapacity. 

5th. Higher skill of Mahomedan missionaries. 



MAHOMED AN PKOSELYTISM. 



81 



6 th. Conciliatory habits of Maliomedan mis- 
sionaries. 

7th. Christian Europeans in Asia, as bad as 
Mahomedan Turks in Europe. 

8th. Plundering propensities of Europeans, 
and strict honesty of Arabs. 

Sagacious dogmas these ! Are they just ? Chris- 
tians suddenly change their natures with the 
climate in Asia — Mahomedans vice versa in Europe. 
Thievishness of the Europeans (English included, 
of course) : strict honesty that of the Arabs ! 
Strange characteristics, if true ! ! ! 

I agree with Crawfurd once only, and that is in 
his second reason — variance of manners ; and, were 
there no variance of manners, I would be ashamed 
of my countrymen. The Asiatic varies from the 
European in his addiction to slaveholding and poly- 
gamy. These are not amiable attributes ; for with 
them are connected many vices. 

All know the predatory habits of the Arabs, of 
their huge piratical fleets on the coasts of Western 
India, their universal connection all over the im- 
mense East Indian Archipelago with the roving 
expeditions of the piratical tribes, as well known to 
old Francis Valentyn as to modern Henry Keppel. 
Crawfurd was not young when he wrote thus of his 
countrymen ; so he must have been prejudiced — 
prejudiced by his position in the service of the 
Company which held the monopoly of all the trade 

G 



82 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



with the Indies, whose traditional policy it was to 
give the English dog a bad name, and then hang 
him. Pirates were rife in India so far back as the 
times of Pliny, who notices the depredations they 
committed on the Eoman fleets. They were equally 
rife on the coast of Malabar in the times of Marco 
Polo, both of whose eras were long prior to the 
advent of western Europeans in India. And, in 
the Malay Archipelago itself, the latter author 
relates distinctly that, while anchored with two 
thousand men, u at Samara, in order to guard 
against mischief from the savage natives, — who seek 
opportunities of seizing stragglers, putting them to 
death, and eating them, — he caused a large and deep 
ditch to be dug around him on the land side." 
Thus the roving habits — it may be predatory ones 
- — of the early European voyagers were not a new 
feature in the Indian seas, — they were Asiatic as 
well. Had the Europeans not had large ships and 
great guns when they first entered into these seas, 
they would not have been a match for the treachery 
of the natives, as Dampier witnesses. 

The social system, as represented in that native 
history termed the " Sijara Malay u," proves that 
piracy, rapine, and murder were as rife in the 
Archipelago one thousand years ago as they ever 
have been since. " Plundering propensities " were 
not confined to the Europeans. 

Thomas Carlyle's ideas of Mahomedanism may 
be summed up as follows : — 



MAHOMED AN PROSELYTISM. 



83 



1st. He is enraptured with its gross and 
material truth, — its gross and sensual 
paradise. 

2nd. He is shocked at the mercenary motives 
of the Christian worthies, who calculate 
the utility of virtue by profit and loss, 
even to weighing his infinite celestial 
soul in a hay-balance. 

3rd. The Arabs, according to him, believe 
their religion, and try to live by it, 
and not as the sons of Ishmail, on their 
neighbours' goods. Not so the Chris- 
tian, with meagre exceptions. 

4th. Yet Mahomedanism is a kind of " Chris- 
tianity !" 

Sad account of your countrymen, oh, Thomas 
Carlyle ! You go on to say that zealous Mahome- 
dan missionaries preach their tenets abroad, among 
Malays, black papuans, brutal idolaters, displacing 
what is bad, but replacing nothing that is better, or 
so good ! ! ! I humbly but sincerely differ from you, 
oh, Thomas Carlyle ! Mahomedanism displaces no 
principle in the Far East ; it changes the name, 
but retains the substance. Its secret of success is 
that its doctrines and practices are thoroughly 
acceptable to an ignorant, superstitious, and libi- 
dinous people. It affects not the internal or ex- 
ternal economy of the household in its polygamous 
and slaveholding propensities. It abolishes one 



84 



LIFE IN THE PAR EAST. 



thing, but returns an equal ; it abolishes idolatry, 
but establishes bibliolatry. Its missionaries cry, 
" Yerily, and in truth, the name of the Koran is of 
such sanctity that its mention strikes terror into 
all devils and evil spirits. Its miraculous powers 
supersede the miraculous powers of the prophets of 
old." The Koran is read to the Malay in an un- 
known tongue; it is therefore as senseless to him 
as the wooden idols whose place it takes. By the 
abolition of idolatry, and the introduction of Ma- 
homedanism, no change takes place in the religious 
and social system of the Malay Mahomedan. 

As an ounce of practice is worth a pound of 
theory, I will give a simple illustration of the 
spirit of Mahomedan proselytism. I have seen 
many examples of it ; but I never saw a better 
than that given to me in the year 1839 by my 
Moslem friend, Kader Mustan, of Ulu Juru. He 
was a Jawee Pakan (an Arab Kling), who had 
settled for many years amongst the Malays for the 
purpose of paddy-planting, trading, and making his 
fortune. By his intelligence and industry, he had 
amassed some wealth, which was principally invested 
in rice-fields, cocoanut-groves, opium, cloths, nails, 
and tobacco, houses, slaves, and concubines. Being 
a Mahomedan of Arab descent, he was a man of 
importance amongst his co-religionists ; but as 
there was a more numerous population of Chinese 
Bhuddists, he had a good field for proselytism. It 
happened in this manner : — The Chinese bring no 



MAHOMEDAN PKOSBLYTISM. 



85 



women from their own country, whilst the Malays 
have more women than they can take the trouble 
to support. 

Kader Mustan had extensive dealings with both 
races. He bought sugar, pepper, and indigo from 
the Chinese, and furnished them in return with 
opium, cloths, and hardware. He bought rattans, 
gharu, and simamboo from the Malays, whom 
he fed with rice, and clothed with sarongs ; and, 
when they ran in debt — which was frequently the 
case — he took their women in pawn, and disposed 
of them when they could not pay the debts. Thus 
Kader Mustan's household became fuller of slaves 
and concubines than he cared for, and he was willing 
to get rid of them, on easy terms, provided their 
Mahomed an faith could be saved. 

Now many of the Pagan Chinese had built houses 
and created pepper gardens, yet had no wife. Kader 
Mustan's dealings in the species were widely known ; 
so he was often applied to. Here was the Mahome- 
dan's chance to make converts. He would part 
with none of his women but to Mahomedans. 
The Chinaman's wants were great, and the power 
of his religion small. His greatest practical sacri- 
fice would be the abstinence from pigs' flesh and 
arrack (spirits), but then he could substitute ducks, 
fowls, and opium. The alteration of habit was a 
bagatelle. He did not even make the sacrifice of an 
English drunkard when he becomes a teetotaller. 
The Chinaman agrees to submit to the first process : 



86 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



it is momentary, and is strengthened and supported 
by the example of Kader Mustan himself. The pro- 
selyte is now taught a text or two from the Koran, 
dons the sarong, is a Mahomedan, and obtains a wife. 

When I was at Bukit Ketchil, Kader Mustan 
recounted the names of several Chinese whom he 
had converted, and he pointed out one to me whom 
he had proselytized only a week previously. Then 
he added, "this is the wife I gave him," pointing 
to a black-eyed nymph pounding at a lusong (rice 
mortar) . 

Such is a practical example of the mode of 
spreading Mahomedanism in the Far East. When 
divested of theory, or romance, it is a very common- 
place transaction. At times, the conversion of a 
rajah may have been followed by the whole tribe ; 
but it was generally by this plain, easy, and busi- 
ness-like process, that proselytes were increased ; 
and the process still goes on. Neither the rapacious 
Europeans of Crawfurd nor the mercenary hay- 
balance theologians of Carlyle have anything to 
do with it. It is a process which prospers where 
its promoters are intelligent and wealthy. In the 
Ear East it merely supplants older — it may be de- 
caying — faiths ; but it substitutes no superior, or 
more elevating principle. Intelligent Hindoos and 
Bhuddists are alive to the great unerring truth of 
one Original Cause, one almighty Maker of heaven 
and earth. As Kockchai, the Bhuddist, said, " If 
you have one God over all the earth, then that same 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



87 



must be ours!' The genii, peris, and dewas of the 
Mahomedans are the idols of the Pagans. They 
are feared and propitiated, as apparent to the Ma- 
homedan's mind, in the same manner as the latter 
are feared and propitiated, as apparent to the Pagan's 
sight. Sordid superstition rules over and prostrates 
both. 

On referring to the beautiful maps of Keith 
Johnstone, it will be seen that Mahomedanism has 
spread from its centre, Mecca, over polygamous 
countries only. As it advances northwards, its 
flow is obstructed by the opposite principle — mono- 
gamy — and is represented by small dots within the 
areas of other faiths. It at one time had spread over 
the doubtful latitude of Southern Spain, but it was 
hurled thence by the zeal of the northern Christians ; 
and it is now spread over what was Macedonia and 
Thracia, where it never could have maintained itself 
had the male population been brave, and the women 
chaste. 

Colonel Law, in his translation of the Keddah 
Annals (" Jour. Indian Arch.," vol. hi., p. 474), has a 
note appended which attracted my attention. It 
was to the effect, that he left a part of the above 
work untranslated, as being a divergence from the 
subject ; however, he added that " he might here- 
after give a separate translation of it ; for if the 
countries mentioned in it could be identified, it 
might be useful in showing where idolatry still 
prevailed" (meaning at the period of the narration). 



88 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



This separate translation never was made, so far as 
I am aware ; but the promise excited my own 
curiosity. I therefore, being possessed of a copy 
in manuscript of the work — which is written in the 
Malay language, and characters (generally termed 
J awi) — perused it and found the untranslated 
part to be a legend of Mahomedanism, which on 
the first blush appeared to be somewhat in the 
style of " Asmodeus ; or, the Devil on Two Sticks," 
but which turned out to be a compendium of Maho- 
medan morality. The subject appeared to be so 
illustrative of Mahomedan missions that I deter- 
mined to attempt the translation, even though I 
had not looked at a Malay book for twenty years, 
nor spoken the language for ten. I have now 
much pleasure in presenting the contents of this 
curious Far Eastern legend for the reader's perusal. 
But it may be that better Malay scholars have fore- 
stalled me. 

Viewed from the high pinnacle of European 
literature, much will appear puerile and absurd, but 
this does not detract from the value of the docu- 
ment as an illustration of native thought, capacity, 
and genius. The book from which it is translated 
was once a very rare one. It was barely saved from 
destruction, on the expulsion of the Keddah dynasty, 
by the Siamese. As a history of the line of Kings 
of the Keddah Malays, the book was much valued 
and highly esteemed by the natives of that unfor- 
tunate country. 



MA HOME DAN PEOBELYTISM. 



89 



In making the translation without the advantage 
of a Malay moonshee, I am conscious of many in- 
accuracies. It is as follows : — 

" Moreover, Mahomed, the apostle of God (to 
whom be peace I), died at Medina, after having de- 
parted from the city of Mecca, the glorious. Now 
it is related that, five years after that event, many 
holy and mighty men amongst the population of the 
city of Bagdad became converts to the faith. 
About this time Sheik Nooraldin came from Mecca 
and Medina, on his way to the countries of Java and 
Asheen, bringing with him the laws appertaining 
to the religion of Islam. Now there was a man, 
by name Sheik Abdulla the elder, residing in the 
city of Bagdad. This man was sage, venerable, 
and powerful in prayer ; and he was reverenced by 
numerous disciples — even by hundreds. 

" This man, Sheik Abdulla, though aged, was 
constant in his devotion to works of piety, and 
duties of adoration towards God (ever to be praised 
and Most High !). He devoted himself to the main- 
tenance of the code of laws of Mahomed, the apostle 
of God (to whom be peace !), and to the amendment 
of the Koran. 

" Yerily and in truth, the name of the Koran is 
of such sanctity, that its mention strikes terror into 
all devils and evil spirits. Because of its truth, it 
makes straight the paths of righteousness in the 
religion of Islam. Truth is borne in its front, and 
truth is set forth in the pages of the Koran. This 



90 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



book — which was left to mankind by the prophet of 
God, Mahomed (to whom be peace !) — embodies 
hundreds of volumes. Its miraculous powers super- 
sede the miraculous powers of the prophets of old, 
and the venerable men of former times. By the 
holiness of the Koran, the miraculous powers of 
venerable men of former time are rendered nuga- 
tory, — such as the power of magic — power to fly in 
the air — power to traverse through the earth, and 
on the sea — also power in the occult sciences. 

" Notwithstanding this, people of the time suc- 
ceeding the days of these prophets of old, may be 
endowed with miraculous powers by the special will 
of God, without which the miraculous powers, and 
magic arts of venerable men of former times, as well 
as the miraculous powers of prophets of former 
times, are not to be attained now-a-days. All this 
proceeds from the holiness of the Koran. 

"Again regarding those false religions under 
which venerable men of old worshipped idols, (made 
to speak, or to be dumb,) such as trees, or the 
sun, or brute beasts that fly with wings or walk 
with four legs on the ground. To fall down before 
these, and to call them lords of the universe, are 
unrighteous ways ; and their efficacy is gone and 
destroyed by the coming down of the Koran of the 
prophet Mahomed, the apostle of God (to whom 
be peace !). All the books_> magic arts, and mira- 
culous powers of venerable men of olden times have 
perished. They have been cast into the sea of 



MAHOMEDAN PEOSELYTISM. 



91 



Kalzoom, so that the law of Mahomed and the 
holiness of the Koran might be maintained, and 
that the faith might be confirmed in all its inte- 
grity — that faith being called the faith of Islam, 
which proceeds from Grod. 

" To proceed : there was a man named Sheik 
Abdulla, who was born in Yemen, and whose father 
was also of Yemen, who departed from Mecca, and 
came to the city of Bagdad, to become a disciple of 
Sheik Abdnlla, the elder. By him he was instructed 
in the book called Fakih, and the book called Tasoof, 
also in the commentaries of the Koran, called Tafsir. 
Sheik Abdulla was learned in the Koran, and he could 
repeat its thirty chapters by heart. He never rested 
from studying the Koran. Now Sheik Abdulla, of 
Yemen, in closely reading the Koran and its com- 
mentaries, came across the passage relating to the 
Devil making mischief amongst mankind. The 
Devil is described as similatmg the profound know- 
ledge and wisdom of the learned, with much deceit 
and perfidy. But, as it is written in the Tafsir, no 
man can see his face or image. It is true that the 
Koran is at deadly enmity with him, still the Devil 
finds ways to destroy mankind. 

" On a certain day Sheik Abdulla presented him- 
self before his instructor, (Sheik Abdulla, the elder,) 
and said, ' I pray thee, oh ! master, to allow me to 
meet the Prince of the Devils, so that I may ob- 
tain an insight into his doings amongst mankind, 
and other created things ! ' "When Sheik Abdulla, 



92 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



the elder, heard these words and desires of his dis- 
ciple, he smiled, saying, ' You cannot be allowed to 
see the Prince of the Devils, as it would necessitate 
your giving up all works of piety and worship to- 
wards God Almighty, which would lead you astray.' 
But Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen, fell down before his 
instructor, and craved to be allowed, saying, 6 Oh ! 
my lord, by your permission, I would meet him. I 
burn with a desire to see and understand all his 
doings !' Then answered his instructor, ' So be it ; 
you must go to the midst of a plain, and set your- 
self under yonder large tree, taking all your clothes 
with you. You must not leave a single thing 
behind. Go, and, when all is still, in the middle of 
the day, verily he that is called the Prince of the 
Devils will, by God's grace, come to you. His 
appearance is the same as that of a man. Do as 
you desire.' 

"This settled, Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen, asked 
leave of his instructor to go and eat and drink. 
This done, he dressed himself, complete with tur- 
ban, and cloak, clasped with three folds, and with a 
kittang coat of four folds, with a sash to wrap 
round his body, and, carrying holy-water, he issued 
forth to the centre of the plain, and sat down by 
himself in solitude, under the great tree, where he 
began to read the Koran. Meanwhile his instructor, 
Sheik Abdulla, the elder, took holy-water, and began 
to pray by making two prostrations, and then bend- 
ing down his body, and lifting up his head and 



MAHOMED AN PROSELYTISM. 



93 



hands, he beseeched God Almighty that he would 
permit the Prince of the Devils to have an interview 
with his disciple, who had now set himself below 
the tree in the middle of the plain. Thus he con- 
tinued to sit and recite the necessary prayers. 

" Now Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen, sat rocking him- 
self* below the tree till the hour of noon, and reading 
the Koran slowly with a continuous hum. Thus 
he waited, but no one came nigh ; however, he con- 
tinued to read the Koran. At length, in a moment, 
there were the sounds of man's footsteps approach- 
ing ; whilst, at the same instant, he was slapped on 
the right cheek with so great force that he felt 
excessive pain. Sheik Abdulla turned himself to 
the right and to the left, but could see nothing of 
him that slapped. He rubbed his cheek, to mitigate 
the pain, in order that he might attend to reading 
the Koran without intermission. Suddenly the 
tread of a man's steps was heard again, and down 
came a slap on his left cheek, even more painful 
than the first. Sheik Abdulla was terrified ; but, on 
looking up, could see no one. Upon this he arose and 
fled back, fearing that another slap would be his end, 
judging it better to get out of the way of the tree. 

4 4 Sheik Abdulla thereupon appeared before his in- 
structor, who, smiling, inquired the cause of his not 
having had the desired interview with the Prince 
of the Devils. Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen, answered, 

* Mahometans rock their bodies backwards and forwards while 
reading the Koran. 



94 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



£ It is true I did not see him, but I felt him with a 
vengeance ; for he slapped my cheeks so badly that 
I thought my very teeth were being drawn.' His 
instructor asked, ' What were you doing so that you 
got slaps only for your trouble?' Then answered 
Sheik Abdulla, ' What was I doing ? nothing but 
rocking myself over the Koran, and reading it, that 
was all !' Then said his instructor, ' No wonder that 
he was not visible to your eyes ; for he fears and 
detests to hear the sound of the Koran. He fears 
and detests it so exceedingly that he always flies 
from it.' Sheik Abdulla replied, 4 1 was not aware 
that he was so much afraid of the Koran as to flee 
from it, and that he could not listen to it, but allow 
me to go to-morrow, in silence and alone, and I will 
not say one word.' 

tl Sheik Abdulla remained that night ; and in 
the morning he arose from his sleep, and he bathed, 
and ate, and drank, and dressed himself as before. 
Then he went to his instructor to ask leave to 
depart, and received permission. His instructor 
continued in prayer as before, and Sheik Abdulla 
went forth, and remained below the tree alone, and 
refrained from uttering a single word till the hour 
of noonday, when all mankind are still.* Forth- 
with came a man, who appeared to be a Sheik, with 
a long beard which swept over his breast. He was a 
man of great size and height, who had a green 
turban on his head, and a stick in one hand. He 

* In the tropics men generally rest themselves at noon. 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



95 



held his beard with the other hand, and his appear- 
ance was frightful. As he approached, he bowed, 
saying, " Peace be with you, oh Sheik Abdulla !" 
Sheik Abdulla immediately replied, ' With you be 
peace ; who art thou, my lord ?' Then the Prince 
of the Devils said, ' Did not you have occasion to 
desire to meet me at the instance of your in- 
structor?'- To which Sheik Abdulla replied, 'Art 
thou, oh my lord, the Prince of the Devils ?' Then 
said the Prince of the Devils, ' Yea, and from the 
Prince of all the Devils, what is your desire ?' Sheik 
Abdulla replied, 6 My greatest wish has been to meet 
with thee, my lord ; and the craving of my heart 
has been to be instructed by thee, and to learn 
from thee, my lord.' Then said the Prince of the 
Devils, ' By what means can you be instructed by 
me ? Our natures are at enmity ; my daily works 
you must imitate, and my behests must be obej^ed 
by thee, whatever these may be, otherwise I cannot 
undertake to give thee an insight into my doings 
and proceedings, nor those of my imps (literally 
grandchildren), of whom there are myriads in this 
world.' Then replied Sheik Abdulla to the Prince 
of the Devils, 4 Acquaint me with }^our behests, and 
show me your ways, and I will follow and obey. I 
will bow to the will of thee, oh, my lord ! For were 
the will of the instructor disobeyed, what were the 
use of being a disciple ?' 

" Then said the Prince of the Devils, c If you agree 
to that compact, come on, take this staff, and hold 



96 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



hard by it, and let us trudge/ Sheik Abdulla at 
once laid hold of the staff, which was in the grasp 
of the Prince of the Devils ; and, holding on to it, 
he followed behind. Thus they walked invisible to 
all mankind, and a whole month appeared as but a 
moment. If it were pitch dark to the eyes of man- 
kind, to them it was bright daylight. Day and 
night was the same to them. 

"At length they entered into a village where 
the devil and his imps had assembled, in thousands 
and tens of thousands. Just at this time the two 
chiefs of the village were very stupidly about to 
fight each other. Each had half of the village and 
the surrounding gardens, and their followers were 
equal in number. So the Prince of the Devils 
ordered his imps to gather round the people on each 
side, and to urge them on with backbitiogs till they 
began to kill each other. The fight soon became 
general; the whole people rushing on each other, 
fighting madly, and gorging on each other's blood, 
till all the males of both sides were exterminated. 
After this the daughters were urged on as well as 
the mothers of those who had been slain. Those 
fought: incited by grief and sorrow for their sons, 
they minded not death also. Thus the dire strife 
continued till all the women were extirpated; they 
were appalled neither by fear nor dismay. Deadly 
hatred gave the women fierce courage to hold 
weapons and pierce with them. The Devil brought 
calamity upon these people till they were all de- 



MAHOMEDAN PKOSELYTISM. 



97 



stroyed. The whole people died together ; and, as 
the vulture preys on the dead, so did a foreign race 
seize hold of that desolated village, with its sur- 
rounding gardens.* 

"The Prince of the Devils now proceeded in 
another direction, his imps following behind him • 
and he went on till he came to a market-place, where 
men were buying and selling thousands of articles. 
Going into the midst, the Prince of the Devils 

or d er i n g hi s imps to do 

likewise. Further, here were to be seen what are 
called c the devil's own books/ in great numbers, 
to wit, beautiful and handsome women. On per- 
ceiving one woman more handsome than the rest — 
says he, ' I am going to read my book.' He then 
approached the woman, and instigated a good-look- 
ing young man to talk and jest with her. This was 
at the very moment that her husband approached 
her, who fell in a rage at the young man that 
was jesting, so that a quarrel was imminent. At 
this very time the imps set about urging on these 
two men to stab each other. Thus it happened, by 
the malice of Satan, owing to a woman's beauty, 
two men died. This comes of beauty. 

" Then went the Prince of the Devils, saying, ■ I 
wish to give lessons to the people in a subject that 
will make them smart ;' with this purpose he ap- 
proached a man that had been unlucky at the gaming- 
table, and he instigated him to sell or pawn all the 

* This is too often the case in the tropics. 

H 



98 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



clothes on his body, and even his wife and children, 
whom he gave over to the winner.* In the same 
manner, the devil ordered the winner to carry his 
gains home, in order that he might keep safe to 
himself what he had won from the multitude. 
At the same time as the people increased, and col- 
lected together to gamble, the Prince of the Devils 
surrounded the gamblers with his imps. It now 
happened that those who lose ask credit from those 
who gain ; and, when the losers have nothing re- 
maining to give in pledge, they meet a refusal, and 
thus a fury comes upon those who have lost, and 
they are very much worsted. They feel as if it were 
better to die than to live. But what avail is it to 
retire from the scene? Are not their wives and 
children now the properties of others ? At this 
moment Satan urges them on with his infernal 
malice, and they again demand credit from the 
winners. Out of these ineffectual demands proceed 
high words, and abusive language towards the 
holders of the winnings. The would-be debtor 
falls into a passion, and drawing his kris, he stabs 
his neighbour, and then follows a general stabbing 
match amongst the gamblers. In the blind uproar, 
all stab indiscriminately. In this way murders are 
brought about by the instigations of the devil, and 
when this his lesson, as he calls it, is finished, he 
slips away to another place. 

" He next came to the shop of a great trader, 

* Oamut used to tell me this often happened amongst the Malays. 



MAHOMED AN PROSELYTISM. 



99 



who was a shrewd man of business. To this shop 
many strangers and holy men came, for the sale and 
purchase of all kinds of merchandise. But the 
owner of the shop kept false weights, having a 
large and small pound (catty, or If lb.) and a large 
and small gallon (chupa). And he weighed and 
measured out with the small pound and the small 
gallon ; but he received in by the large ones. So 
when it became known to the strangers that the 
trader bought and sold in this manner, and that he 
was a man of such character, then the Prince of the 
Devils instigated the strangers to pick a quarrel with 
him about the weights and measures. Now, when 
the trader heard the accusations of the strangers, 
the Prince of the Devils instigated him also, by 
his infernal influence, so as to cause him to lose his 
self-possession. The trader thereupon trembled with 
rage, slandering and foaming, and the strangers' 
passions rising also, they draw their krises, and stab 
the trader through the body, to the backbone, so 
that he died. 

" The trader's family being numerous they 
assembled and stabbed the strangers. These again 
having many friends in their ships, flew to the 
shore, and stabbing became the order of the day. 
The market became filled with the slain, and the 
murdered, till the corpses lay in heaps. At length 
the trader was buried ; but, though buried, he 
found no rest in his grave ; for his mouth kept re- 
peating these words : — ' A large pound is a small 

H 2 



100 



LIFE IN THE PAR EAST. 



pound, and a small gallon is a large gallon/ This 
he continued to repeat thousands of times ; and for 
seven days and seven nights he had no rest in his 
grave. Such is the end of those people who indulge 
in the unconstrained desires of Satan in their greed 
and covetousness after other men's goods, with the 
view of hoarding to themselves. Such men become 
Satan's own, and he carries them off with him, and 
throws them into hell — the place of the damned. 

" This man having thus been disposed of, the 
Prince of the Devils trudged on, accompanied by 
Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen, towards another country. 
They came across ten or eleven men sitting down 
in the midst of the forest ; and, as they approached 
them, it was seen that they were thieves collecting 
the goods of others in the woods, these goods being 
the proceeds of many years' foraging. The goods 
were piled in great heaps, being of all sorts, and 
in great abundance. Now, the thieves were in the 
act of dividing the spoil on this very day ; so the 
Prince of the Devils ordered his imps to surround 
them till each had had his share allotted. ' Then, 
said one thief to his neighbour, 4 You have too 
much, and I have too little ; for was not I over- 
wearied in going forth to steal ? It is but right 
that I should have more than you.' Says another 
thief, ' I stood sentinel for you all, and I watched 
the goods, so I should have a larger share than 
the others and in this way they all argued, till at 
last Satan instigated them all to anger, and they 



M AH OME DAN PROSELYT1SM. 



101 



became divided amongst themselves, and stabbing 
and murdering commenced. Now all those who 
were stabbed became infuriated like wounded boars ; 
whereupon myriads of devil's imps shouted and 
slapped their backs, screaming and urging them on 
till they were crushed, scattered, and dead ! The 
men had no care for life, by reason of the slanderous 
cries of Satan. In truth, it appeared to them better 
to die than to live, so they raged and stabbed till all 
were killed. 

" Thus all the goods that were heaped up were 
left for the benefit of strangers. 

" Again the Prince of the Devils moved on, with 
Sheik Abdulla holding by the staff; and they 
entered an inhabited town. This time the Devil 
revealed his intention of going to the church of his 
stronghold, upon which presently he arrived at the 
opium farmers, where many people were gambling 
(berjudi) and chancing money (mein sakopong).* 
There were also multitudes of people drinking spirits. 
This is what is called the Cathedral of Satan. On 
arriving, he ordered his imps to collect in the town 
as many as ten or fifteen imps to each inhabitant, 
and these instigated the people, till a great multi- 
tude began to smoke opium and gamble, and chance 
money with horrid imprecations. Others played on 
the violin, the clarionet, the fife, the drum, and 

* Kapong is a Japanese coin whose name is preserved amongst the 
Malays, a valuable metal testimony that Japanese commerce extended 
to the Archipelago in ancient times, though not in modern. 



102 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



the cvmbals. Now this is what is called 1 the feast 
of the Devil.' 

" Of the number that were drinking spirits, 
three or four became intoxicated, and these men 
appeared demented, for their reason had gone. On 
this the armies of imps read their books ; that is, 
they nrged on people to drink spirits, behind whom 
were thousands of devil's imps following, with 
clamour, screams, thundering, and jostling. But 
these sounds were heard by Satan alone ; if it were 
possible for these sounds to fall on the ears of man- 
kind, of a truth all men would refrain from wicked- 
ness, and immediately would they walk in the paths 
of righteousness. The devil's imps are delighted 
with those who are given to drunkenness, because, 
by thus giving way to their sensual desires, they 
are sent to hell, where they serve as trophies to the 
countless armies and subjects of the devil. And as 
to opium smoking and gambling, these are other 
modes of the devil to set people at variance. Oh, 
ye opium smokers and gamblers, ye both end in 
thieving ! You covet other men's effects owing to 
your craving for opium. "You lose all reflection, 
and you have no shame towards mankind. Your 
bodies waste away, and your bones dry up. You 
destroy each other as the spear-shaft. Your flesh is 
filth. Ye are like unto dogs and swine, for these 
sleep on the ground, and they rest on the solitary 
pillow, or on a soft fragment of wood. 

" Those who are given to opium forget to eat rice 



MAHOMED AN PROSELYTISM. 



103 



and curry,* for to them opium alone is sweet. 
They are debauched, and wander about during the 
night to steal. They return not to their homes 
until they are caught and bound by the magistrates. 
Even then they will strive alone for the taste of 
opium ; but it is permitted only to the great and the 
wealthy to consume opium. f The true happi- 
ness of man and wife in this world and that which 
is to come is in good works ; but this is bartered by 
all unbelievers who wallow in deformities, abortions, 
and dirt. As they delight in wickedness, how can 
they expect justification ? They obtain only the 
rebuke of this world and the curse of hereafter. 

"As the people enjoy the clamour and re- 
joicings, this becomes a token of the devil's own 
increasing in numbers. For one man joining in the 
amusements, there are twenty imps about him. 
They eat filth with shameless sounds, singing and 
dancing. Even though the wife of the household 
be carried off by men, this does not bring the 
reveller to his senses. Debauchery alone is thought 
of. Even though the inheritance of forefathers be 
stolen, the reveller cries, ' Let the game go on !' 
Just at this time the devil instigates young women, 
of comely persons and beautiful countenances, to 1 
mix amongst the people, who are engaged in lewd 
rioting and gambling. These go with the intention 
of swelling the crowd and witnessing the gambling. 

* Staple food of the East as "bread of the West, 
f The Malays appear to have one moral code for the rich and 
another for the poor. 



104 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



The books of Satan enter at last, and their tokens 
of him are too apparent, for down comes the wrath 
of the women's husbands on the rioters. These 
bring fire, and burn down the opium-farm and the 
gaming-houses. By the instigation of the devil, 
these buildings become as ashes in the air. This is 
the conclusion of the devil's lessons. 

" This done, the Prince of the Devils trudged on, 
in company with Sheik Abdulla, of Yemen; and, 
departing from his church thus destroyed, he bent 
towards the village of a great and wise man, and more 
than that, a counsellor of the king of the country, 
who gave laws to the people. Now, many men sat 
in his court asking what the law directed against 
those who carried off goods without cause. One 
asked what the law directed against him who had 
seized possession of his house and garden without 
cause. Another asked the law against the rich 
man who had carried off his boat and merchandise 
without cause. Another asked the law against the 
man who had run away with his wife, the accused 
being now present. Another asked the law against 
the man that had carried off his female slave to 
make her his wife. Another asked the law against 
the father who had married his own daughter. 
Another asked the law against the man who had 
seduced his daughter, that same man being now 
present before the court. Another asked the law 
against the man who had burnt down his house and 
garden, the culprit having been caught, and now 



MAHOMED AN PROSE LYTISM. 



105 



brought before the court. Another asked the law 
against the man that had stolen articles from off his 
children while at play, the accused having been 
caught and brought before the court with the 
articles. Another man asked the law against one 
who had cut down a tree in his orchard without 
asking permission. Thus the people asked the law 
before the court, while the Prince of the Devils 
drew near and went up and sat beside the judge. 
He then whispered into the judge's ear ; and, insti- 
gating him by his secret wiles, he put it into his 
heart to order all those asking the laws to ascend 
and assemble within the precincts of his house. 

" Now the devil instructed his imps, with the 
concurrence of the judge, to go and lay hold of the 
valuables — the children, the wives, and the slaves of 
these people, and bring them into his inner rooms. 
Thus they laid hold of the property of the highest 
amongst the people, and secured them in the judge's 
house. In this the judge acted covetously and ava- 
riciously towards man's estate, which was unjust. 

" After this the devil went to the owners of the 
property, of the women, and of the women's fathers, 
and of the slaves ; and to the owners of the goods 
and chattels, the owners of the boats, and the 
owners of the gardens, and orchards, and the house 
that had been burnt. He went to all parties who 
were demanding their goods and property. Now 
the judge would not deliver judgment in the causes 
before him, but he laid hold of all the property, and 



106 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



stored it privily for his own use, having no inten- 
tion to hear the suits. Then it came to pass that 
all the people went to the judge, demanding back 
their property ; but he would not answer them a 
word ; and, without asking the owners of the pro- 
perty even to wait a little, he entered into his inner 
apartments to eat rice.* On this the multitude 
swerved to and fro : all thought and discretion fled ; 
a rage fell on them ; some drew their weapons to 
slay — some rushed into the judge's house, and others 
fetched fire to burn it down, and the village with 
it. Thus the judge died — he was killed even before 
he had time to eat rice ; and, as to his children and 
slaves, they fell in numbers by the stabs of the 
owners of the property, who murdered and killed 
all before assistance could be brought to them, or to 
the burning house and village by the officers of the 
state. The numbers of the murderers were so great 
that even the officers of the state died in the flames. 
Thus the house and village were utterly destroyed, 
and became dust of the wind. This comes of men 
coveting the goods of others, and of those who care 
not but to follow, in this life, the sensual desires of 
Satan. They come to feel the fires of hell. 

" To proceed : — The Prince of the Devils and 
Sheik Abdulla moved on to another country ; and, 
in a solitary place, they met five beggars — askers of 
charity. They were in the midst of a dense forest, 
not accessible to mankind. Each carried his own 

* As the English would say, to dine or sup. 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



107 



provisions. These beggars fell in with a tree whose 
fruit and leaves were of red gold and silver, from 
the trunk even to the very top. As the five beggars 
rested below the tree the Prince of the Devils ap- 
proached them. Then said the beggars, ' What 
is it that we five search for in a city ? Is it not for 
gold and silver ? Have we not fallen in with gold 
and silver to the extent that we will not be able to 
carry off? What is to be done?' At this time the 
Prince of the Devils, by his secret wiles, urged them 
to leave their provisions for the love of money, which 
he put into the hearts of the five. They began 
thereupon, improvidently, to throw away their food, 
by common consent, and to help themselves to all 
the articles to which they took a fancy, and each 
packed them in parcels, and carried off as much 
as he could stagger under. Even then, half of 
the beggars looked around, and, seeing so much 
more on the top of the tree that they desired, turned 
back, and, taking them, hung them to their necks. 
They then left — walking awhile, and resting awhile 
— putting down their burdens awhile, and then 
carrying them awhile. On this the Prince of the 
Devils gave notice to his imps to follow and destroy 
those five beggars ; so they were accordingly dogged 
by these subjects of Satan, who destroyed them. 

" Again the Prince of the Devils trudged on with 
Sheik Abdulla, intending, this time, to enter into 
the city of men ; and they espied a learned man, 
Shahir- el-Hasan, who, being desirous to see into 



108 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

futurity, had secluded himself in the strictest 
manner. Now the Prince of the Devils assumed 
the appearance of a Sheik, with a beard flowing 
down to the breast, having a green turban, and 
carrying a pomegranate in his hand. Approaching, 
he salaamed. Then did the man immediately open 
his eyes, and reply, ' With you be peace !' and 
asked, 6 Who art thou, my lord ?' Then said 
the Prince of the Devils, ' I am he who can enable 
you to attain to all your desires. Take and eat 
this pomegranate/ Thereupon the hermit, taking 
the pomegranate, and seeing its freshness, broke it, 
and put its seed into his mouth ; and when these 
had reached his throat, his eyes became darkened. 
He lost his senses and became as one that was mad. 
The Prince of the Devils immediately vanished from 
his sight, and the pomegranate that was in his hand 
became invisible, and the hermit entered into the 
cities of men, and seeing a palace where numerous 
boys were receiving instruction, he approached 
them. At the same time the Prince of the Devils 
approached, and saw that the boys were busy learn- 
ing the tasks set by their preceptor. 

" Then did the Prince of the Devils mysteriously 
impart mischief into the minds of the boys, so that 
in an instant one and all neglected their tasks and 
went to play, or returned to the houses of their 
parents. The preceptor was angry at this conduct, 
and called them back and beat those who returned ; 
but others of the boys, hearing of this chastisement 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



109 



of their fellows, kept away. On this the preceptor 
requested the parents to bring back their boys ; and 
when they were brought, he immediately com- 
menced to chastise them in their presence. The 
parents seeing their boys chastised without apparent 
rhyme or reason became enraged, and carried their 
children back with them to their homes. Thus it 
fell out that half the boys had no instruction, and 
those that remained at school the teacher constantly 
chastised on account of their going to play. Some 
ran off, and would not learn their lessons ; and the 
teacher ran after them and beat them. On seeing 
this their parents again took them away from 
school, and sent them to another preceptor — but 
the same circumstances occurred. With some of 
the children the next teacher was not strict in 
exacting their lessons, but he sent them into the 
forest to carry wood, and to cut bundles of sticks. 
Here, owing to negligence, and being out of the 
sight of their teacher, some fell from the tops of 
trees, others got cut on the hands and feet by their 
billhooks, whilst others got pricked on their hands 
and feet, while running and romping. They 
complained to their parents that their teacher or- 
dered them to work, and in consequence they took 
them away from school, and the boys learnt 
nothing. 

ic To others who remained learning their lessons, 
the teacher was too easy. And when these children 
heard of play-acting (main wayung), and games 



110 



LIFE m THE FAR EAST. 



going on, they absconded out of the sight of both 
teacher and parents. They did just as they liked. 
In their sight-seeing and amusements, they forgot 
both meat and drink, as well as their teacher. Now 
their parents sought for them in the house of the 
teacher, but finding that they were not there, they 
followed them to the playhouse, where they found 
their children all present. On being urged to 
return home, the children replied, 1 Stop a little, 
only let us remain to see the princes and demi-gods 
(dewa, dewa, dan numbang).' On this the parents 
remained also along with the children, to see the 
sights. Here is the Church of Satan, which his 
subjects frequent in great multitudes, besetting 
with their infernal influence the hearts of all the 
spectators, so that they forget food and drink. 
They become absorbed in the rejoicings. The valu- 
ables in their houses may be carried oflf by thieves. 
Even then they have no thought to return. They 
forget their food. 

" At length the teacher himself goes in search 
of three of his scholars, and he followed them to 
the playhouse. Here they had been seated for four 
days, without either going to their parents' houses 
or to the school. Yea, the teacher followed them 
into the playhouse, where there was a great multi- 
tude of people assembled. The teacher patiently 
endured the sight of the play, that he might grasp 
the children by the hands and lead them home. 
On this the parents of the children got afraid at 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTTSM. 



Ill 



seeing crowds following the teacher, because he was 
beating their children : so they ran and tore them 
from the teacher, and took them to their own 
houses. Arriving at home, they find everything 
had been stolen in their absence. There was not 
food left even for their children ; and having no food, 
neither could they be instructed.* 

" The teacher had now no scholars to be taught, 
so he remained solitary, because children cannot be 
taught on an empty stomach. And when teachers 
have no scholars, the ignorant fall into the snares 
of Satan : even till old age comes on, some are never 
taught. The Prince of the Devils is delighted at 
this state of matters. This kind of teaching is 
truly perfect to him, for it enables him to push 
mankind down to hell and destruction. 

' 6 So the Prince of the Devils moved on with 
Sheik Abdulla, and they fell in with a woman that 
was pregnant. Her month had come, and she never 
had had a child before. Neither had her husband 
ever had children borne unto him. So they both 
earnestly prayed for and desired offspring. And 
the woman was big with child. Then said the 
Prince of the Devils to the genii and spirits of the 
water, 'You must deceive this woman that is big 
with child, as also her husband, by means of this 
Karawan jar that is in the river/ Then said the 
genii and spirits of the water, 6 It is well ;' so they 

* The native author would seem to have been a teacher such as 
was Abdulla bin Abdul Kader. 



112 



LIFE IN THE FAR, EAST. 



took the appearance of old sheiks, clothed in white 
robes, and they stood over the heads of the man and 
his wife and cried, 1 Oh, husband, bring your wife to 
a bight in the river, and take from thence a jar 
which is filled with red gold. This will enable you to 
procure another wife, far more beautiful than the pre- 
sent one, who is pregnant.' And the husband answered 
in his dreams, 4 How can I do this to my wife, for 
she is about to lie-in ?' Then replied the genii, 
' Oh, you have only to push her into the bight of 
the river, and take out the jar. Do this three 
times.' So with little hesitation the husband 
brought his pregnant wife, carrying a cast net ; 
and on arriving at the bight, the husband looked, 
and sure enough he saw a jar, bobbing up and down. 
He snatched at it, but it sank; and up it came 
again, but only to go down as before. On this the 
pregnant woman bent down to look, on which the 
husband cast his net sidewards, and holding the 
rope in one hand, he thrust his wife into the river 
with the other. At this very instant the rope 
slipped from his hand, the net having encompassed 
the mouth of the Karawan jar, and entangled it. 
Just then, also, the servants of the Prince of the 
country espied a man trying to obtain a Karawan 
jar, and they told it to the Prince, who ordered 
them at once to lay hold of the man, who could 
make no excuse for himself.* So the Karawan jar 

* Karawan jars appear to have been royalties, but I am not aware of 
their nature. 



MA HOMED AN PKOSELYTTSM. 



113 



returned to the Prince ; the wife of his love died ; 
his desire for children was not realized ; his vows 
were broken ; his net was lost. So nothing turned 
out to his wish. It thus happens to those who 
partake of the delusions of Satan in following their 
uncontrolled passions. They crave for the things 
of this world, and become mad and upset. 

"The Prince of the Devils and Sheik Abdulla 
next went to a place called his Church. This was 
where the people were busy play-acting and calling 
down spirits, and where people were about to fight 
buffaloes, with bellowing and disgraceful cries, ac- 
companied by the tambour. Here all the devil's 
imps were assembled in thousands, to cast their 
wicked influence on mankind. This influence ex- 
tends abroad over people far from the scene, 
and induces them to come and abandon their 
works of piety and their worship of Grod (who 
alone is almighty), and to bring destruction upon 
themselves. Each one forgets his duty in the sight 
and hearing of the plays and the buffalo fight. 
They forget even to eat and to drink, and their 
property, their children, and their wives, which they 
left at home, are relinquished to thieves. The 
long-bladed krises at the buffalo -fight are plentifully 
supplied to both sides ; and the side which triumphs 
cheers tremendously, and dances about with un- 
sheathed weapons, glorying over the heads of the 
owners of the worsted buffaloes. Now these owners, 
instigated by the devil, become enraged and also draw 

I 



114 



LIFE IH THE FAR EAHT. 



their weapons. They strike with their spears, and 
throw them indiscriminately at the crowd. Murder 
is rampant. This is the devil's mischief. By his 
supernatural devices, life changes into death. His 
followers are thrust into hell and damnation, along 
with him. 

" Presently those play-acting, and calling down 
spirits, are struck with terror, and join in the 
deadly strife, and thus many of the sons of men 
meet w r ith death, and lie strewed about the ground. 
Such is the fate of those who set aside God (who 
alone is almighty), and trust to the spirits of Satan. 
They are dead to their own estate ; dead, it is true, 
but their spirits attain not to the sky nor to the 
earth, but they flit amongst the clouds. Those men 
are the damned — the scum of hell : damnation is 
their name. They die ignominiously. Indulging 
in the sensual ways of Satan, they are struck with 
damnation. 

" To proceed. There were five beggars carrying 
cloth wares, and after they had journeyed seven days, 
and seven nights, they were an hungered, not 
having tasted either meat or drink. And they 
came to a certain road, near to a village and garden, 
which were inhabited by men. The five could 
scarcely lift their feet to walk, so they fell down and 
slept. And of the five there was one that was 
strong, so, said he, 'Let me go into the market of this 
country to buy eatables, and to bring them for all 
of you.' So each took a portion out of his burden 



MAHOMED AN PKOSELYTISM. 



U5 



and gave it to their comrade. Then went the com- 
rade and entered the village, where he sold the por- 
tions and bought provisions — such as oil, fried fowls, 
and pumpkins filled with water. The devil now 
appeared and placed his mysterious influence on 
him, the most potent influence of avarice and covet - 
ousness was put into his heart. The suggestion 
occurred to him to appropriate all the property of his 
comrades. So he bought flour and hired a man to 
bake bread, and to make soup, and curried fowl ; 
and, of the many, into four loaves he put poison, 
which he kept separate, and brought to his four 
comrades. 

iC The four beggars were delighted to obtain food, 
and having ate their fill, put by what was over, 
and went to sleep. Shortly they awoke, and rose 
up to eat bread again, which they dipped into the 
chicken soup; and the five men ate on till all was 
finished excepting the four loaves. These remained 
uneaten. They now agreed amongst themselves to 
finish these also, and the four asked their comrade 
to join with them, but he declined, saying that he 
was satisfied. On his refusing to eat with them, 
they felt annoyed at him ; and the four having 
finished the soup, they importuned him to eat 
along with them. So he felt ashamed of himself, 
and ate with them till all the bread was finished. 
On this the five fell down and died of the bread that 
had been poisoned. All lay about dead ; and the 
goods that had been carried by these five beggars 

I 1 2 



116 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



were strewed on the ground to fall a prize to other 
men. This consummation was planned by the 
Prince of the Devils. Avarice and covetousness 
and the pursuit of sensual desires are fomented by 
Satan. 

" Thereafter, the Prince of the Devils, with Sheik 
Abdulla, left his Church, that is, the buffalo -fight 
and the murdering that was going on, and they 
entered into a certain house and enclosure of a great 
merchant. When this merchant retired to sleep, 
he ordered all his wives to lie around him. Then 
did the Prince of the Devils place his infernal de- 
vices into the hearts of the eight wives, so that they 
were instigated to injure the merchant. So they 
conspired, by a firm compact, to seek a medicine of 
which each were to give a share to the merchant, 
and they did so. Thus it is with those who indulge 
in the sensual desires of Satan, and in eagerness for 
greatness in this world. 

" The Prince of the Devils having finished the 
destruction of the merchant and his eight wives 
and concubines, he went to another great merchant 
like unto the last. He had only one wife, and there 
came a woman to sell a female slave of beautiful 
form, olive complexion, tall and slender, but whose 
eyes squinted, and whose breast was yellow and 
swollen. Then said the merchant's friends to him, 
' Oh, master, buy not this woman, for her previous 
behaviour has been very loose !' But one of the women 
who wished to sell her said, ' If you will not take 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



117 



her, buy myself, for I am pure/ and in the mer- 
chant's heart a strong desire arose, so he bought 
the woman and paid down the price, and carried her 
to his house, where he made her stewardess over all 
his household affairs. It then came to pass that 
the stewardess went to the merchant's wife and said, 
■ Oh, my lady, do you love your husband ? for he 
has done evil with a young woman at the shop/ 
At this the wife of the merchant was angered, and 
distressed at her husband, on account of his having 
done evil at the shop. The stewardess thereupon went 
to the merchant and said, ' Have a care of yourself, 
oh, master, for your wife desires to kill you; she 
hates you because she is at present intriguing with 
a young man.' So the merchant became enraged at 
his wife. Then again went the stewardess to the 
wife of the merchant with a concocted story, saying, 
' If my lady truly loves her merchant, when he 
comes in the middle of the day to sleep, let my lady 
take a sharp razor and trim his beard while 
he is asleep, and thus regain his affection ; for 
that unlucky woman shampoos the beard of your 
merchant.' 

"When the morrow came the merchant went 
to sleep, and he at the same time was wishing to 
find out the intrigues of his wife. At this time 
the Prince of the Devils came close to the wife 
whilst the stewardess was in the act of putting a 
razor into her hands. As the merchant slept, 
she set about to trim his beard • but he felt his wife's 



118 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



presence at his head and the razor at his beard, so 
he opened his eyes, and thinking that his wife was 
about to cut his throat, he started up, he grasped 
his kris, and run her through the body — so that she 
died. Thereupon a great clamour arose because of 
the merchant having killed his wife, which brought 
her father and brothers, who now stabbed the mer- 
chant, so that he died with his wife, leaving all his 
valuables in heaps to become the portions of other 
people. 

" Now this is the style of the ' book of Satan/ 
Very fine law, and customs, and sense, and the 
meaning is this. The squint-eyed, yellow, swollen- 
breasted woman, it was who brought the dire 
mischief of Satan into every occurrence. She is 
the perfection of the ugly genii of Satan. 

" Then the Prince of the Devils, with Sheik Abdulla, 
went forth from that country towards the strong- 
hold of a prince whose country was situated near 
the sea-shore, and they arrived at the city of Prince 
Gamashtoor by name, who had a brother by 
name Kamshakur, also a prince. And the brothers 
possessed wide domains, with many subjects, coun- 
cillors, champions, and warriors. And Prince 
Gramashtoor had a daughter of so great beauty, 
that numerous princes courted her. Now Prince 
Gamashtoor would countenance none of them, at 
which they were offended, as their domains were 
great also. The first that came to offer his hand 
was called Prince Kisir Alam, but his suit was 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 119 

rejected ; upon which he said to Prince Gamashtoor, 
'You had better strengthen your ramparts and 
moats against the time I shall come to carry off 
your daughter by force.' So he returned back to his 
own country. Three or four months after this, 
another prince came, called Pagram Dewa, whose 
domains were also extensive. But Prince Gamash- 
toor refused his suit also, which incensed him so 
that he threatened the prince, saying, £ Secure your 
ramparts and moats, for I will come and assault 
them/ on which he returned back to his own 
country. Three or four months after this again 
there came a prince called Asal Alan, whose 
domains were very extensive ; but Prince Gamash- 
toor would not give him his daughter, which pro- 
voked him to such a degree, that he cried, ' Oh, 
Prince, strengthen your ramparts and moats, for I 
intend to attack them !' and he returned back. 
Nothing would alter the resolution of Prince 
Gamashtoor. 

" Now Prince Gamashtoor, being desirous of carry- 
ing out his intentions of making offerings and 
worshipping before the great idol whose belly was 
shaped like that of a buffalo, which was made of 
brass, gathered together all kinds of gamesters and 
play-actors, for there were to be great rejoicings. 
While these rejoicings of Prince Gamashtoor were 
being carried on, there was great and incessant 
revelry, noise, bustle, and uproar, during both night 
and day. The nights were made as clear and brilliant 



120 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



as. noonday by means of lamps, candles, and lanterns. 
At this conjuncture the Prince of the Devils arrived, 
and, with his imps, filled up the whole place, crying 
out, 1 At length we have espied our cathedral, where 
we will be able to perform all kinds of piety and 
adoration.' Immediately, thereupon, the Prince of 
the Devils leapt into the mouth of the great idol, 
and he bellowed out with all his might and main, 
as loud as thunder in the sky, and the whole 
country round could hear him, saying, ' Beware, 
oh, Prince Gamashtoor, prepare your warlike equip- 
ments, and go forth immediately ; for the princes 
of three countries are nigh at hand ; but, with 
my assistance, you may keep them off !' On this 
all were silent, and not a word was spoken ; but when 
Prince Gamashtoor, with his councillors, guardsmen, 
and warriors, heard the voice of the idol, each and 
all ran and fell down before it ; even the feeble and 
the aged in thousands came and fell before it, pray- 
ing for assistance, and that they might not be taken 
by their enemies. They also brought eatables in 
heaps, as high as hills, before the great idol ; for, 
during its existence, it had never yet spoken • this 
was the first time on that day. Then the coun- 
cillor called Chang Mantrie came, and made obei- 
sance before Prince Gamashtoor, saying, ' Would it 
not be well, my lord, that we send spies to see the * 
coming enemy ? The idol whose mightiness is 
greater than all has forewarned us.' Then said 
Prince Gamashtoor, ' True, do as you suggest • let 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



121 



my people go and see, for we are in the midst of our 
rejoicings, and have not leisure to prepare our 
armies for battle.' So the Councillor ordered men 
to go forth to spy the approaching army, and they 
went forth accordingly. 

<c Now Prince Gramashtoor constructed a large 
house of great height, and he raised the great idol 
and set it on the top, and the smaller idols he 
ranged round about. And all the people of his 
dominions assembled and prostrated themselves 
before the idols, along with their Prince, who re- 
turned not to the palace. Thus the Prince, with 
his councillors and warriors, relaxed not in their 
rejoicings. Night and day there was no end of 
rejoicings, so that Prince Gamashtoor forgot the 
warnings of the idol. 

"As to the spies sent out — when they met the 
army of Prince Kisir Alam, they were taken pri- 
soners, and the army fell on the people unawares, 
in the midst of their rejoicings. Some people 
clamoured and cried that the enemy were attack- 
ing them, whilst others cried that it was only 
strangers coming to join in Prince Gramashtoor's 
rejoicings, for the country is a great one. The 
attacking army attacked the west side of the city, 
and, on [the very same day, Prince Pagram Dewa 
fell on the south side with a great army. Still 
many said they were people come to join in the 
rejoicings ; but others said ' it is an enemy coming 
to attack us in great force.' 



122 



LIFE IN THE PAR EAST. 



" It was now evening, and there came another 
army • this was that of Prince Asal Alan, as it 
rushed on. Like breakers of the ocean were the 
sounds of his advancing force. Amidst all this 
turmoil there arose the noise of tremendous firing 
from landward, during which Prince Asal Alan 
led forth his warriors and champions in thou- 
sands for a furious attack on the northern ram- 
parts. Just at this moment the Prince of the 
Devils entered the mouth of the idol, and with 
a loud voice, exclaimed, £ Oh, Prince Gamash- 
toor, know not you and your councillors and 
warriors that your enemies have arrived, and 
are entering on three sides ? Get out immediately, 
and by my assistance no harm will come of this •!' 
Then there was dead silence, and no one could 
utter a word ; for Prince Gamashtoor, with all 
his councillors and warriors, were about arranging 
the ceremony of worshipping and prostrating them- 
selves before the great idol, beseeching assistance. 
At the voice of the idol great fear and amazement 
had fallen on all present, and they left not off 
prostrating themselves before it ; but the idol would 
not answer them. In consequence all fled from 
the pagoda; and, returning to their homes, they 
hurriedly grasped their weapons and sought out 
the commanders of Prince Gamashtoor. 

" At the same time Prince Gamashtoor and his 
brother tied to their fort, and ordered all the gates 
to be closed. And a fire broke out around the fort, 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



123 



so that all the surrounding houses were destroyed, 
in which many people died with piteous wailings. 
Now there were four great councillors of Prince 
Ganiashtoor, one named Chang Mantri, another 
Agam Jewa Mantri, another Ambilan Mantri, and 
the other Lang Chang Mantri ; and under these great 
councillors were two councillors whose greatness 
consisted in bravery, and they were in the confi- 
dence of Prince Gamashtoor and his brother. When 
Chang Mantri and his colleagues saw the state of 
affairs, the four consulted together, and resolved to 
present themselves to their prince along with such 
armed followers as they could collect. Then the 
four councillors hastened to the fort, with their 
armed followers, but could not get near to it owing 
to the enemy being yet engaged in slaughtering 
and burning ; but having made a detour to the 
eastern side, they got entry by the gate along with 
their followers. So the four ascended to the maga- 
zine of the fort, which was filled with powder, balls, 
and cannon, with men in array. Here they found 
Prince Gramashtoor with his brother busy ordering 
the forces to fire the cannon. 

" It was in the dead of night that the cannon began 
to bellow forth, and as they were fired the thunder- 
ing noises confused the fight, so that friend fought 
against friend, while the ranks in the vicinity of the 
fort and at the base of the ramparts were mowed 
into wide gaps by the shot. Then said Chang 
Mantri and his colleagues to Prince Ganiashtoor, 



124 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



6 Who are these enemies that have come upon us, 
oh, Prince ?' To which Prince Gamashtoor replied, 
' 1 know not ; but, my lords, let two of you remain 
with me in the fort, and let two of you go forth and 
raise my subjects far and wide ; ascertain also who 
may be the princes that assault us.' Then said 
Agam Jewa Mantri and Ambilan Mantri, ' We will 
mount our chargers and issue from the eastern gate/ 
When they had issued, the gate was closed and 
guarded, whilst they collected followers and subjects 
who were at a distance from the war, as well as 
those who were cut off from it. 

" As to the invading princes and their three 
armies, they fought furiously, stabbing one another, 
for by this time the people of the city had all been 
either slaughtered or made captive. In the melee 
the houses were burnt down, and the pagoda was 
set on fire and consumed to ashes with all its idols. 
The whole city of Prince Gamashtoor was destroyed 
and burnt down to be dust of the wind ; for the 
three princes assaulted it far and wide in every 
direction. All this was done in ignorance, for they 
knew not of each other's courtship, nor had they a 
common understanding as to the intention of each 
to assault the city of Prince Gamashtoor. Thus it 
happened that they fell to assault all at one time. 
Their countries were very distant from each other. 
So it came to be said that the people of Prince 
Gamashtoor are fighting in great force near the 
fort, and with this impression the three princes 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



125 



fought with and slaughtered each other till day- 
light began to appear, and their people wondered 
that their enemies fought with such pertinacity; 
they also wondered to see cannon-balls shot from 
the fort against the houses which remained un- 
burnt, killing hundreds of the inmates. And 
though the outskirts of the fort had become an 
open plain, yet the shot fell thereon with awful 
thundering sounds deafening to the ear, more 
loud than the forked lightning in the sky. The 
noise of the firing of cannon, and the noise of the 
warring of men, were like unto the sound of the 
hurricane and typhoon (tufan) about to fall on the 
earth. 

"And all the games, and all those that provided 
pleasures, and all those that desired to pay their 
vows to the idols, were overwhelmed and de- 
stroyed. The desires of Prince Gamashtoor were 
not fulfilled. At length dawn appeared, so that 
those in battle began to see about them, and each 
sought his own tribe that they might erect forts and 
houses for the shelter of their three separate armies. 
Now for the first time did Prince Kisir Alan order 
his men to inquire the name and country of the 
two other princes and armies. So each told who 
their prince was, and the cause of their war being 
the rejection of their suit. It was now only that 
they thought of a mutual treaty, when half their 
subjects and followers only remained to them in 
each army. Besides this, the natives of the city lay 



126 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



dead in heaps : like mountains of blood and flesh, 
their corpses lay strewed about in all directions. 
Further, the houses set on fire blazed till the even- 
ing ; this was the case with all the houses outside of 
the fort. Thus the families of many households 
were extirpated. 

"Now the country of Prince Gamashtoor was 
large, and his ramparts and moats were extensive, 
and when day had dawned, he ordered all his men to 
cease firing the cannons, while he held council with 
his brother and his two chiefs regarding the opera- 
tions of the war. At this time the Prince of the 
Devils came to the ear of Prince Gamashtoor, and, 
laying him under his infernal influence, he instigated 
him to work his cannon against the fort of Prince 
Kisir Alam, which was on the western side. 
The men did as they were ordered, for the death of 
Prince Gamashtoor was nigh at hand. Next the 
Prince of the Devils proceeded to the fort of Prince 
Kisir Alam, towards its northern side, for the 
prince's armament was great ; and he came near 
and sat by the ear of Prince Kisir Alam, just as 
the prince was holding council with his chiefs re- 
garding the destruction of the fort of Prince Ga- 
mashtoor. Again the Prince of the Devils instigated, 
by his hidden wiles, the heart of Prince Asal Alan, 
so that he ordered the fort of Prince Gamashtoor to 
be undermined, and the buildings in it to be blown 
up with powder. This was undertaken with alacrity 
to save fighting with weapons, and also from a desire 



MAHOMED AN PKOSELYTISM. 



127 



on the part of Asal Alan that no one should obtain 
the princess. 

This occurred during the forenoon. Then came 
the two great councillors and attacked the eight 
councillors, who commanded the three fully-equipped 
armies, with their chariots, elephants, and horses. 
The army in the fort of the prince was now 
pitched against the three fully-equipped armies, 
who numbered thirty to forty thousand men. 
So the ten councillors rushed furiously against each 
other, leading the armies of the princes. And all 
the princes entered the battle, for there was no 
time to stay the war and the furious onslaught, 
with chasing, and stabbing and slashing ; swords- 
men hacking with the sword, and spear smen piercing 
with the spear, in struggling clamour, fierce cries, 
and awful sounds. 

" Then Chang Mantri begged of Prince Gamash- 
toor that he would allow Prince Kamshakur to go 
out against the enemy, to which he assented. So 
he went forth, accompanied by all his captains and 
warriors, and also with the two councillors, chiefs, 
and followers of the army in the fort, these being 
fully armed, and beating drums and bearing flags 
and banners, the insignia of princes going out to 
battle. Tremendous was the noise of the on- 
slaught ; for thousands on thousands engaged in 
blind fury with the ranks of Prince Pagram Dewa. 
A great battle ensued with his army. No other 
sound could be heard but the sound of screaming 



128 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and bawling. All the heroes and warriors were 
heard stabbing with the kris, and grappling in 
the death-struggle. Some cut with the sword, par- 
rying and recoiling, fencing with sword's-point to 
sword's-point. Numbers were pierced with the 
flying spear, for the spears were hurled from side 
to side. Others fought with the buckler, pulling 
and dragging from side to side, with horrid 
bellowing, cutting and leaping, thrusting and 
parrying. Each sought an opponent to pursue 
with loud cries. The strife was very awful, in its 
clashing noises and thundering uproar. It was 
as the Day of Judgment : and as the shrieks 
arose in the first of the onslaught, the dust as- 
cended in clouds into the air, from the feet of 
the elephants and horses, as well as the infantry. 
This, with the smoke of cannons, enveloped every- 
thing in murky darkness, insomuch that no one 
could know his neighbour. The battle was waged 
— friend against friend. The blind affray became 
cutting for cutting, stabbing for stabbing, in the 
dark haze, also grappling to stab with the kris, 
so that many died on both sides. The dead 
bodies lay in heaps like hills, and blood was shed 
like swiftly-overflowing waters ; and the hollows 
of the ground were pierced with all sorts of broken 
weapons. And as for the human heads that had 
been cut off, these lay like cocoanuts that had fallen 
from their pendicles. And the bodies of men were 
like unto plantain stalks, decaying in the midst of 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



129 



the plain. The end of the war was a multitude 
of corpses, of men and horses. So much blood 
flowed on the ground that the dust was allayed. 

" And; while darkness continued, rank and file en- 
countered, then leaped back and retired to assuage 
their weariness. And as they retired, they washed 
their weapons and sought out their own leaders, 
who commanded them to rush to the fight again, 
shouting, and slaughtering with shrieks and 
yells. 

" Prince Gamashtoor stayed in his fort and 
palace while the great war was going on ; for he 
remained in the battlements of the fort. Then came 
the Prince of the Devils to the Princess, saying, 
' What a handsome and beautiful creature !' With 
this he approached her, and imparting his mys- 
terious influence, there came upon her an intense 
desire to witness the battle going on outside the 
fort. The father also was so urged by his child that 
he mounted the bridge of the palace, and thence 
witnessed the people fighting. On the father having 
mounted the bridge, the daughter cried also to go, so 
she ran along stretching her arm against the stone 
wall of the palace. And the arm that was stretched 
to the wall fell against it, and as it fell, a spike 
that was in the masonry struck her eye, piercing 
through the right one to the left. On this she 
fainted, and falling, broke her left leg, and there 
she lay. 

" Upon this there was consternation in the palace, 

K 



130 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and the cry arose that the princess had fallen in 
reaching to the wall, and that her eye had been 
pierced, her leg broken, and that she herself was in 
a swoon. Upon this her father ran down to his 
child, left his men that were engaged in sapping and 
mining, and those that were in the midst of battle, 
and hastened, with weeping and wailing, to draw 
out the spike from the e}^e of his child. But he 
fainted at the sight, and the attendants threw rose- 
water over both. The consternation now became so 
great that it reached the battle-field. The day was 
near at a close, and the mines had been driven near 
to the house held by Prince Kisir Alam. The mines 
were fired and the house blown to the ground. The 
Prince Kisir Alam, who was in the thick of the 
slaughter, was speechless with rage and fury. He 
desired death rather than life ; for his provisions 
and clothing were spent, and his arms were con- 
sumed in the fire. Day had now become night, and 
the mines had been driven by Prince Asal Alan 
underneath the palace of Prince Gramashtoor, which 
being fired, blew up all the houses in the fort, to- 
gether with the palace. That also was burnt to 
the ground. 

" This catastrophe struck such terror into Prince 
Gamashtoor that he had no time to call for aid. A 
great fear fell upon him, and he trembled from head 
to foot, and fled with his wife and child with the 
royal drum, and went forth out of the fort by the 
eastern gate, deserting the spot and his people. 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



131 



Hereupon Prince Asal Alan slaughtered right 
and left, so that those people who would have ex- 
tinguished the fire were all destroyed. The fort 
became as a plain, clear and open to view. But, 
before it had been burnt, and during the con- 
tinuance of the battle, assault, and slaughter, 
Prince Kamshakur and Prince Pagram Dewa en- 
countered each other on horseback with lances. 
They were equally skilful ; and Councillor Chang 
Mantri met Councillor Dikar Alam, cutting with 
the sword and guarding with the shield. And 
Councillor Agam Jewa met Councillor Jurus Alam, 
and they both fought with swords. And Councillor 
Nila Pengawa met Councillor Kehir A la- Alam, and 
Councillor Sri Lela Tora met Keber Alam, fighting 
with swords. The eight councillors were equally 
skilled with the other eight. And they all remained 
close to the two princes, entering the lists with them. 

The army of Prince Kisir Alam, which was very 
numerous, yelled and shrieked upon the capture, by 
the captains and councillors of Prince Gamashtoor, 
of the councillors called Nita Mantri, and Yunan 
Mantri, and Shriri Mantri, who were hastily carried 
to the base of the fort, where they were bound, 
and a guard of warriors placed over them. And 
the yells of the men of Gamashtoor grew loud, 
for Prince Kisir Alam now remained alone ; also 
the shrieks of the men on the side of Prince Asal 
Alan waxed exceedingly loud, for their four coun- 
cillors were killed or taken. And Councillor 

K 2 



132 



LTFE IN THE FAR EAST, 



Mamang ordered the head of Councillor Jena Petir 
to be struck with a mace, and his brains were 
scattered about. And Councillor Lela Tangara 
stabbed Councillor Sin a Kapura through, till he 
died. And Councillor Norkas Sri caught Coun- 
cillor Lanang Sri ; and Councillor Lanang Sri so 
cut with his sword, by a false parry, the neck of 
Councillor Kalahari, that his head was severed, and 
it rolled on the ground. Thus all the four coun- 
cillors died. Prince A sal Alan w T as present with 
his councillors, and numerous warriors, while they 
were engaged in slaughtering within the precincts 
of the fort of Gamashtoor, and burning it, and the 
contents of the palace and dwellings. The yells 
and shouts of the contending armies ceased not in 
the midst of the battle. Night, meanwhile, wore 
on apace. The fire in the fort of Gamashtoor 
raged the more, and there was no more help for 
him. Though his subjects rushed eagerly to his 
assistance in quenching the fire, they came only to 
die amidst the slaughter of the furious affray. 
Though the battle was furious, yet the burning of 
the fort of Prince Gamashtoor was even more 
appalling. It was beyond all help. Of those who 
rushed into the battle, all died ; they were slaugh- 
tered by the warriors of Prince Asal Alan. And of 
such as fled into the forest, whether enemies or 
natives, many were taken and bound. And though 
the young wept, wailed, and cried for help, they 
were all burnt alive. The possessors of the city 



MAHOMEDAN PEOSELYTISM. 



133 



were thus destroyed, and those who came against it 
as enemies were also destroyed. The end was that 
none attained their desires. 

" Thus it is with the work of the Prince of the 
Devils towards those that sin against God (who alone 
is almighty) and pride themselves on their worldly 
estate. 

" Thereafter the Prince of the Devils, leaving his 
Church in ruins and disorder, trudged on with Sheik 
Abdulla, and they went forth from that country to a 
city on the shore of the sea, whose prince was great. 
And they met many ships of divers nations ; sailing 
amongst which there were some that bore the ap - 
pearance of the expedition of Dewa Molik, the 
European (Ferringhee). And the Prince of the 
Devils stood before the largest ship, to wit, that of 
Molik_, the European, whose cunning and wicked- 
ness were great ; and instigated him to capture the 
ships of men sailing on trading voyages. This done, 
he (Molik) took the hint, and he ordered all ships, 
indiscriminately, large and small, to be captured. 
Having captured all these, he went and assaulted 
a fort on the shore, which was the fort of 
Prince Seer Ameer, the elder. This prince had 
three brothers, one named Prince Mirabab, one 
named Gandari Mirabab, and the third named 
Palier Abab. Their fort was large, and very 
strong ; and their subjects were numerous. 

" Now when the fleet of Dewa Molik, the Euro- 
pean, arrived, he gave no notice, but assaulted at 



134 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



once, engaging the whole fleet with the landspeople. 
By this time the fort was mounted with great guns, 
so they resisted with great noises, and thunderings, 
accompanied by yells and shouts. By the smoke 
of the guns a murky mist arose, so that daylight 
became gloomy darkness. There was nothing else 
to be heard but the booming of cannon ; and the shot 
flew backwards and forwards like hail. Even thunder 
and lightning in the sky could not be heard, owing 
to the noise of the great guns ; and in the midst of 
the fight, many of Dewa Molik's ships were sunk by 
the shot striking them. But the war waxed the 
more furious, with shouts and yells on either side. 

" Now, as the battle raged, Prince Grandari Mirabab 
and his brother Prince Palier Abab, waxed wroth ; 
and they encouraged their men to issue forth from 
their moorings in armed vessels, and to dash like a 
squall of wind on the enemy's fleet, and surround 
and engage it with shouts and yells. On seeing 
this attack, the European chief fought with great 
vigour. The smoke of the guns so increased the 
gloomy mist that no one could see the other. Then 
Dewa Molik ordered all his ships to draw near to 
the fort, till they touched the base, when all his 
warriors, braves, and their leaders leaped ashore, and, 
drawing their weapons, they rushed on furiously. 

" Prince Seer Ameer Abab being left in the fort 
with his younger brother, whose name was Meer 
Abab, he and his brother sought an encounter with 
the men of the sea, believing that the object of their 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



135 



landing was to slaughter the occupants of the fort on 
shore. So they ordered the cannons to be fired, which 
was instantly done with vigour, by the great as well 
as small guns. There was no parley between the fort 
and the men of the sea. Their fire descended like 
heavy rain on the vessels of the fleet, which utterly 
destroyed them, with loud and fearful cutting sounds. 
The missiles flew like forked lightning. Nothing 
was to be heard but the sounds of weapons, and the 
thrusting, fencing, cutting, and slashing resounded 
with dinning noises. At the time of the headlong 
rush, all the vessels of the fleet of Dewa Molik, the 
European, were destroyed, becoming dust and ashes 
strewn to and fro on the sea. After a time the 
smoke disappeared, and the air became clear. On 
this the leader of the fleet, Dewa Molik, was dis- 
mayed, for it was now apparent that all his ships 
had been destroyed, and that it was his fate to 
remain alone. Ke was blinded with rage, and all 
thoughts of safety were banished ; so, with his 
councillors, warriors, and braves, he leaped on shore, 
and rushed forward with naked weapons. It being 
perceived by Prince Mirabab, that the European 
Dewa Molik rushed on ahead, he ordered his 
warriors to surround him. They mounted their 
horses and vigorously attacked him with yells and 
shouts and thundering sounds like lightning in the 
sky. The carnage increased with the turmoil. 

" This being seen from the vessels, Prince Palier 
Abab and his brother immediately sprang on shore, 



136 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and surrounded the men of the European captain, 
and either stabbed all those ashore, or cut them 
down, or took them prisoners ; and all the men of 
the European captain were taken prisoners or killed. 
More died than lived. It is thus with those who 
follow the unhallowed passions of Satan. And all 
the imps of Satan are thus enabled to gratify their 
revenge on the slain. It is in this way that many 
come to their end by following the teachings of 
Satan. 

" The Prince of the Devils, with Sheik Abdulla, 
next went to another country, keeping near those 
which skirt the ocean, which they entered to destroy 
mankind and their cities. In passing, forthwith they 
arrived at a city whose prince was accustomed to 
drink spirits (arrack), where the Prince of the 
Devils and Sheik Abdulla at once mounted the 
palace of Prince Maha Wangsa. The prince was 
on the point of rising out of his sleep along with 
his wife. When the Prince of the Devils and Sheik 
Abdulla approached and stood close to the curtains, 
the prince rose from his sleep and called for a 
glass of spirits, on which the maidservant of the 
prince took a flask of spirits and a glass and 
brought them. She was about to pour them out just 
as the Prince of the Devils (bad luck to him !) filled 
the vessel with an offensive liquid, so that there was 
much of that stuff and but little of the spirits. The 
glass was now presented to the Prince by the girl 
kneeling, which the Prince took from her hands, and 



MAHOMED AN PROSELVTISM. 



137 



poured the contents into his mouth, and swallowed. 
Upon this, Sheik Abdulla interfered with the Prince 
of the Devils, saying, ' Grod bless me, why didst thou, 
my lord, give such a draught to the prince ?' Then 
answered the Prince of the Devils, c Did not I 
bargain with you, that you must not interfere or 
challenge any of my doings towards mankind ?' To 
which Sheik Abdulla replied, ' In other places I did 
not intend to challenge your deeds, but this is a 
great prince, reigning over a country, as the vice- 
gerent in this world of Grod Almighty ; it is not 
proper that you should give him such stuff to 
drink. 

" Prince Pra Ong Mahawangsa was astonished at 
hearing people quarrelling so near his curtains, as it 
were in his presence, but yet invisible, the voices 
being alone heard. He was so disconcerted that he 
even forgot to wash his face. Thereupon the Prince 
of the Devils became so enraged at Sheik Abdulla 
that he said, ' If you are so clever, let us part,' and in 
a moment he pulled the staff out of Sheik Abdulla' s 
hands, and, disappearing, left the palace. So Sheik 
Abdulla became apparent to the eye of mankind, and 
there stood with clasped hands. Then the Prince took 
him by the hands and inquired, ' Who are you, my 
lord, and with whom were you speaking just now? 
and how did you come down into my chamber ? I 
observe that you are dressed in foreign garments? 
the sign of having arrived from a distant country. 
And again, how did you come, and who brought you 



138 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



hither? for the young women are yet asleep.' 
Then answered Sheik Abdulla, ' Oh, Prince, the 
person that I was striving with just now was 
the Prince of the Devils. Did you not, oh, 
Prince, imagine that you drank spirits just now? 
It was not spirits. You were deceived.' 

" When the Prince heard the words of Sheik Ab- 
dull a about his having drunk something from the 
devil, he smelt the glass as he sat by the curtains, 
and said, ' If I have drunk this from the devil, it is 
quite certain it has no resemblance to spirits.' Then, 
said Sheik Abdulla, * Oh, Prince, I am a native of 
Yemen, and am come direct from Bagdad, the city 
of my instructor, and I was carried to this place by 
the devil, for I wished to be instructed in, and to 
see all, his doings. So he gave me a staff which 
rendered me invisible, and I had witnessed all his 
evil doings over mankind till I arrived at your 
palace. My name is Sheik Abdulla, and may I ask, 
at the same time, what distance may be the voyage 
from this country to Bagdad?' Pra Ong Maha- 
wangsa replied, ' It is very distant, being three or 
four months' voyage from this country of Keddah, 
as I am told by persons accustomed to come and 
go.' Then said Sheik Abdulla to the Prince, ' And 
of what religion are you, oh, Prince, in this country 
of Keddah ?' The Prince replied, ' Our religion has 
descended to us from our ancestors, and we all 
worship idols.' Then said Sheik Abdulla, ' Does my 
lord not know that this age is the age of the 



MAHOMEDAN PROSELYTISM. 



139 



prophet Mahomet, the prophet of God (to whom be 
peace) ? To the prophet in these latter days must 
we devoutly look. And afterwards we will bring 
the code of laws of the religion of Islam as written 
in the Koran ; a book which came down into the 
city of Mecca, from God Almighty to his apostle 
the prophet of God (to whom be peace). His tomb 
is at Medina, and all religions of former times are 
false ; so do not you, oh, Prince, remain ignorant of 
the falsity to the religion in which you worship. 
Your religion is the plaything of the devil, by 
which he vexes mankind. Though he be invisible, 
and far off, verily you follow the commands and 
wishes of the devil, all of you.' 

" Thereupon Pra Ong Mahawangsa replied, ' If 
it be so, you must assist us all to learn the religion 
of Islam, which is the true one/ When Sheik 
Abdulla heard the words of the Prince, he fell on 
him and kissed his body, and then sitting down, he 
conversed a while with him, teaching him the creed, 
which runs as follows : — ' 1 verily believe that there 
is no God but God. He is one, not two, and that 
Mahomet is the prophet of God.' Then the Prince 
repeated the Creed as taught by Sheik Abdulla, and 
he also commanded his attendants to bring the jar 
and flask of spirits ; then the Prince Pra Ong 
Mahawangsa poured out the whole spirits on the 
ground with his own hand, and ordered also every- 
thing in the name of an idol in the palace to be 
brought together ; these his attendants brought and 



140 



LIFE IN THE FAR, EAST. 



laid them before him in a heap. There were idols of 
gold, silver, pottery, brass, wood, and clay, all in 
the human shape. These did Sheik Abdulla strike 
with an axe and cut with a sword till they were 
in shreds and pieces, and he cast them into the 
fire." 

This introduces the Mahomedan missionary Sheik 
Abdulla to his labours in Keddah; and as the 
sequel has been translated by Colonel Law, I need 
only tell the result of the native history. 

The Prince having been converted, his subjects 
quickly followed. Sheik Abdulla' s labours were 
crowned with success, and, after being settled in the 
country for some time, the Prince sought out a 
handsome girl, the daughter of a councillor of state, 
to be the Arab missionary's wife. But none could 
be found willing to espouse the holy man, as his 
intention to return to Bagdad was known. 

Having completed the conversion of the country 
and settled his affairs, Sheik Abdulla set sail for 
Bagdad, touching at various places for wood and 
water, and shaped his course for Hindostan, whence 
he finally coasted homewards, passing the Maldive 
Islands, where he again wooded and watered and 
took in provisions. Thence he arrived safely at the 
end of his voyage. 

Here he found Sheik Abdulla the elder, his 
spiritual guide, still alive, and to him he related all 
his adventures with the Prince of the Devils and 
subsequent labours in Keddah. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 

Christianity, an older belief, had preceded Ma- 
homedamsm into many parts of Asia and Africa. 
But as my little book only pretends to give 
"glimpses," I must condense my remarks on this 
all-important subject. Marco Polo's evidence proves 
that sects of Christians had settled during the 13th 
century on the eastern confines of China, and on the 
southern seaboard of Hindostan. They were, be- 
sides, met with by him in the remote interior of 
Asia. Of their manners and customs his pithy, 
short chapters give us little information. At 
Aden (now an English settlement, and- the 
supposed maritime port of the Queen of Sheba who 
visited Solomon), the same author informs us, the 
Christians were detested by the Saracens. He 
inserts a story of the Christians of the islands of 
males and females, no doubt drawn from the in- 
formation of his Saracen pilots, and in which there 
was more of sarcasm than of truth. The religion of 
Christ has ever inculcated chastity ; and as the 



142 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



story is characteristic of the peculiar weakness of 
the natives of that region, I copy it.* 

"Of the Islands of Males and Females. 

" Distant from Kesmacorun, about five hundred 
miles towards the south in the ocean, there are two 
islands within about thirty miles from each other, 
one of which is inhabited by men without the 
company of women, and it is called 4 the island of 
males ;' and the other by women without men, which 
is called 'the island of females.' The inhabitants 
of both are of the same race, and are baptized 
Christians, but hold the law of the Old Testament. 
The men visit the island of females, and remain 
with them for three successive months — namely, 
March, April, and May, each man occupying a 
separate habitation along with his wife. They then 
return to the island of males, where they continue 
all the rest of the year without the society of any 
female. The wives retain the sons with them until 
they are of the age of twelve years, when they are 
sent to join their fathers. The daughters they 
keep at home until they become marriageable, and 
then they bestow them upon some of the men of the 
other island. This mode of living is occasioned by 
the peculiar nature of the climate, which does 'not 
allow of their remaining all the year with their 
wives, unless at the risk of falling a sacrifice. They 

* See " Marco Polo," chap, xxxiv. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



143 



have a bishop, who is subordinate to the see of the 
Island of ' Soccotera.' " 

Marco Polo makes also some interesting remarks 
regarding the condition of the Christians of the 
Island, which I also copy.* 

" All the people, both male and female, go nearly 
nakedj having only a scanty covering before and 
behind like the idolaters who have been described. 
They have no other grain than rice, upon which, 
with flesh and milk, they subsist. Their religion is 
Christianity, and they are duly baptized, and are 
under the government, as well temporal as spiritual, 
of an archbishop, who is not in subjection to the 
Pope of Pome, but to a patriarch, who resides in 
the city of Bagdad, by whom he is appointed ; or if 
elected by the people themselves, by whom their 
choice is confirmed. Many pirates resort to this 
island with the goods they have captured, which 
the natives purchase of them without any scruple, 
justifying themselves on the ground of their being 
plundered from idolaters and Saracens. All ships 
bound to the province of Aden touch here, and 
make large purchases of fish and of ambergris, as 
well as of various kinds of cotton goods manu- 
factured on the spot. 

" The inhabitants deal more in sorcery and witch- 
craft than any other people, although forbidden by 
their archbishop, who excommunicates and anathe- 
matises them for the sin. Of this, however, they 

* See " Marco Polo," chap. xxxv. 



144 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



make little account • and, if any vessel belonging to 
a pirate should injure one of theirs, they do not fail 
to lay him under a spell, so that he cannot proceed 
on his cruise until he has made satisfaction for the 
damage. Even although the wind should be fair 
and leading, they have the power of causing it to 
change, and thereby of obliging the vessel, in spite 
of everything, to return to the island. They can, 
in like manner, cause the sea to become calm, and, 
at their will, can raise a tempest, occasion ship- 
wrecks, and produce many other extraordinary effects 
that need not be particularized." 

The above account of the Christians of Southern 
Asia, by an European Christian travelling in the 
13th century, will suffice to give a "glimpse" of 
what they were nearly six centuries ago. 

A modern English traveller has supplied recent 
information of the social and religious state of an 
ancient Christian tropical country, which, having 
been isolated for centuries from European influence, 
affords an example of rare interest in solving the 
question as to the possibility of a pure faith and 
practice being maintained in such regions and 
under such circumstances. Major W. Cornwallis 
Harris* says, " There are perhaps more churches 
in Abyssinia than in any other part of the world." 
Again he says of the Christians of Abyssinia, 
" All ideas regarding salvation are (with them) 
vague and indefinite ; and vain foolish doctrines 

* " Highlands of Ethiopia." 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



145 



have taken entire possession of the shallow 
thoughts of the Christians of Ethiopia. Born 
amidst falsehood and deceit, cradled in bloodshed, 
and nursed in the arms of idleness and debauchery, 
the national character is truly painted in the confes- 
sion of one of her degenerate sons, to wit, " When- 
soever we behold pleasing ware we steal it, and we 
are never in the company of a man whom we dislike 
that we do not wish to kill him on the spot." 
Again, the author states, " A Shoa girl is estimated 
according to the value of her property." Again, 
" Matrimony is occasionally solemnized by the 
Church in a manner somewhat similar to the ob- 
servance in more civilized lands." Again, " But 
this fast binding is not relished by the inhabitants 
of Shoa, and it is of very rare occurrence. Favourite 
slaves and concubines are respected as much as 
wedded wives. No distinction is made between 
legitimate and illegitimate children ; and, to the 
extent of his means, every subject follows the 
example set by the monarch, who, it has been seen, 
entertains upon his establishment, in addition to his 
lawful spouse, no fewer than five hundred concu- 
bines." Again, " All conjugal affection is lost sight 
of, and each woman is in turn cast aside in neglect. 
Few married couples ever live together without 
violating their vows." Again, " The jewel chastity 
is here in no repute." Again, " Morality is thus 
at the very lowest ebb." Again, " The soft savage 
requires but little inducement to follow the bent of 

L 



146 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



her passions, according to the dictates of unen- 
lightened nature ; and neither scruples of conscience 
nor the rules of their loose society, form any obstacle 
whatever to their entire gratification." Again, " In 
their houses," the author states, " that a bullock's 
hide is stretched upon the mud floor on which for 
mutual warmth all the inferior members of the 
family lie huddled together in puris naturalibus." 

Such is the condition into which tropical Chris- 
tians fall, when left to themselves. Such is their 
state when severed from the northern apostle with 
his influence and example. There is no difference 
between their social state and that of the Ma- 
homedan and Pagan of the same latitude. Is it 
climate, then, that destroys the virtue of the man 
and the Christian ? The Abyssinian Christians, as 
a nation, are an example of the lowest grade to 
which an originally pure and chaste religion has 
fallen. And if we search for the highest grade, we 
must turn our eyes to the nations of northern 
Europe and their temperate colonies. There are 
many middle grades of Christianity to be found in 
other regions. Woman is the great pillar of a pure 
faith ; and where she is energetic, she exercises her 
power and influence ; where she is enfeebled by the 
climate, hard usage, or inauspicious circumstances, 
she abandons them, and virtue is not to be found in 
her nation. 

Viewing the subject in its social bearings only, 
and avoiding a discussion on the doctrines of the 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



147 



faith in which there may be much controversy on 
its broad basis within the bounds of Christianity, it 
will be seen that the condition of woman affects, in 
the closest degree, the general state of a community. 
When she is on equal terms with the man, then 
does her influence tend to conserve society ; when 
she is degraded below that position, then is her 
influence lost to that end. In Christian Europe she 
is the equal of man as in Germany of old. In 
other regions, where her condition is degraded, 
there can be no Christianity in the English sense 
of the term. With the institution of polygamy, 
therefore, that great degrader of womankind, the 
Christian missionary can have no truce, even though 
a Colenso should wink at it. Were Christian mis- 
sionaries to abate a jot of their faith or practice 
in this respect for the sake of proselytes, then 
would the vice redound to their own destruc- 
tion. It would insensibly deteriorate their own prin- 
ciples. They would carry virtue out of England, 
but they would, on their return, inoculate their 
native soil with the principles of libertinism. 
The mission of the Christian priest is full of difficul- 
ties ten thousand times greater than the young and 
inexperienced enthusiast can imagine. The success 
of missions no one can foretell ; their efforts we may 
gaze upon with wonder — their results we cannot 
anticipate — their workings we cannot understand. 

The beau-ideal of a Christian family we can pic- 
ture in the father and mother living in this world 



148 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



only for each other — in hope and resignation of 
that which is to come, — the brothers and sisters 
(their offspring) chaste, and having due respect 
and obedience to their parents. In such a case 
love is strong, and affection undying. The finest 
attributes of human nature are brought out. This 
beau-ideal is a plant of northern growth ; in the 
tropics it is an exotic — to be reared with tenderness, 
and watched with the most untiring care. To dif- 
fuse this plant over the tropics is a great work ; its 
benefits are incalculable to all nations, but the 
difficulties are prodigious. Physiologists tell us 
that, in the tropics, pure European blood dies out 
in the third generation. Then how is the exotic to 
be maintained ? It must be replaced by fresh 
draughts. If Christian missions are to be of per- 
manent good, this must be done : there must be 
constant effort. A chaste example must be set by 
constantly renewed apostles. Temporary evangeli- 
zation, followed by total abandonment, is of no 
avail. The monstrous and bloody Taepings of 
China are the offspring of such partial teaching. 
English Christianity must be upheld in the tropics 
by the constant presence of the English missionary, 
otherwise it dies out, as does English blood ; or it 
mixes with, and partakes of, the heathenism sur- 
rounding it. This conviction grates against philan- 
thropy — still it is no less natural than true. Were 
there not stagnant atmosphere, and deadly exhala- 
tions in the tropics, then the refreshing trade-winds 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



149 



might cease to blow in upon, and purify, these 
regions. The natural course of these currents 
might stop for any use that might attend them. 
In like manner it follows that the white man's 
mission must constantly flow into, and revive, the 
fainting and wearied in the sultry East. 

If we glance at past history, we shall find that 
there has been a constant flow of humanity from 
northern regions towards the vertical sun. The 
flow has been as constant as the currents of the 
elements. Nation has settled on nation, and tribe 
on tribe. Like the movements of the Vandals, the 
Alans, and the Lombards, of the west, have been 
the movements of the Arians, the Moguls, and 
Mongols of the east. Humanity has never stood 
still ; but there have been constant mutations of 
tribes, families, and languages ; and so will it be 
as long as nature holds its course. Then so long 
as Christian Europe's power predominates, so long 
as Christian Europe's mission lasts — so long must 
her efforts be constant in elevating and christianiz- 
ing the populations given to her sway. The area 
is vast — the people innumerable — there is room 
for one hundred London Missionary Societies, and 
there is work for one hundred thousand apostles. 
Were the arena open to Christian missions, spread 
out so that the mind could take all at one grasp, it 
would appal the senses — it would blind the sight. 
The labours of hundreds would sink into insignifi- 
cance, unless maintained constantly and continuously. 



150 



LIFE IN THE EAR EAST. 



One apostle must succeed another ; when one falls, 
another must be ready to press forward. With the 
acceptance of extended empire in the Far East, 
England's responsibilities extend proportionately. 

A " glimpse " at this great theme is all that 
can be attempted in this little book. In the 
attempt, we must treat of the two sects of Chris- 
tians separately. Mention may be made of the 
great but evanescent success of the Roman church, 
three hundred years ago, when millions of converts, 
throughout India, China, and Japan clung to the 
standard of the Cross. But, from various causes, 
the converts diminished and died out, so that these 
modern times found the work had. to be recom- 
menced. The peace of Europe during the past 
forty years permitted this. The most energetic 
and enterprising labourers in missions to the Ear 
East, in these modern times, have been those of the 
French propaganda. Thirty years ago the mis- 
sionaries of this Society had penetrated into many 
parts of Asia, including Corea, Tartary, China, 
Cochin China, Siam, &c. The travels of M. Hue 
are known to all. His confreres were numerous, 
though it may be their exertions are less celebrated. 
These French missionaries braved hunger, stripes, 
torture, and death, in many parts ; and they met 
martrydom with a calmness and a heroism which 
a strong faith, and an unswerving purpose alone 
could support. Their labours were principally 
amongst the Bhuddists, whose church ceremonies 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



151 



have a close resemblance to those of Rome, however 
great the differences may be in principles and dog- 
mas. Great success attended the efforts of these 
missionaries, more especially in Cochin China. 
Here the Right Rev. Dr. Le Fevre, Bishop of Isau- 
ropolis, in his details respecting Cochin China, says 
(see " Jonr. Ind. Arch." vol. i., p. 62), "that this 
polygamy is the greatest obstacle to the progress of 
the Christian religion amongst the great, but not 
at all amongst the people." In other words, 
amongst the Bhuddist population of Cochin China, 
the superior intelligence of the French priest asserts 
an easy sway over the poorer classes of the people, 
and converts those who have no wives or concu- 
bines to part with, being generally so poor as to be 
only able to support one, or none at all. This being 
the case, the poorer classes are easily persuaded to 
bow to the Lord of this superior intelligence, repre- 
sented to their eyes by the image of Christ, and to 
set aside the image of Rhudda, who is the Lord of 
an ignorant and worthless priesthood, degraded to 
the position of mere servitors of the shrine. But 
it is otherwise with the wealthy Bhuddists, who, 
while they despise their own priesthood, maintain 
them for governmental policy, and content them- 
selves with an ethical philosophy in lieu of a reli- 
gion. Thus they despise all priesthood whatsoever, 
and are little inclined to give up their habits of 
sensual enjoyments, which their riches lavishly pro- 
cure, and to which they are slavishly addicted. 



152 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



These wealthy Bhuddists of Cochin China, holding 
all places of influence and power, were the great 
opponents and cruel oppressors of the French mis- 
sionaries. Great events have taken place in that 
country lately — to which I merely allude. 

With the Mahomedan populations, the Romish 
missions have had no success. Mahomedanism, as 
Burrows says, is a strong faith — besides, it ignores 
the worship or the semblance of worship of images ; 
and, during my intercourse with Mahomedans, I 
never met one who did not maintain that Roman 
Catholics were idolaters, just as the Hindoos and 
Bhuddists are. Between the Roman Catholic mis- 
sions of France and the Protestant missions of 
England and America there is much variance of 
principle in action. An unmarried priesthood is 
naturally more enterprising than a priesthood bound 
down by the cares of the world. Thus, while the 
former, heedless of personal safety, have spread 
themselves over jealously-guarded regions, the latter 
have held by the settlements of European powers 
(of course, with exceptions), for the sake of pro- 
tection to themselves and families. For the forty 
years during which these Protestant missions have 
been established in the Malayan Archipelago there 
has been no apparent progress made. Not that 
the missionaries were not earnest in their under- 
takings, but that all their labour seemed to be in 
vain. The Protestant mission to the Malays was 
strong and numerous ; but it worked against hope 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



153 



till the lives of the members had been spent. Some 
withdrew with disgust at fruitless toil, others sought 
more promising spheres of labour. Hundreds of 
thousands of English and American money must 
have been spent on these missions to the Far East ; 
but when I left the provinces connected with 
Malacca, I was not cognizant of any apparent pro- 
gress. 

I say "apparent progress/' for if I know any- 
thing of human nature, I may assume that such 
earnest single-minded men as Morrison and Milne 
could not have been in contact with the ingenuous 
natives of the East without leaving an impress upon 
them. The Protestant missionary's labour was 
less brilliant than that of the Eoman Catholic ; his 
toils were not the less heavy ; his life was not the 
less made a sacrifice to the cause he had espoused. 
His undertaking was eminently more laborious, and 
immeasurably more difficult. It was his task to 
implant a pure faith, having no visible symbols, 
amongst an ignorant, immoral, and superstitious 
people. A faith which ignored the images and 
idols of the Pagan, and the demons, spirits, and 
dreams of the Mahomedan — a faith which denounced 
the most intimate social habits of the natives, could 
not be imparted without much instruction in lite- 
rature — without much devotion to the ceaseless duties 
of the class-room and the study. The Protestant 
missionary's task was to alter the habits and genius of 
a people. A mighty labour ! Truly brave were 



154 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



those who undertook the task. All honour to them, 
even though the fruit has been scanty, and their 
labour has hitherto been like that of Tantalus ! 

I said the Protestant missions had been " appa- 
rently" unsuccessful in the Far East up to the time of 
my leaving those regions. What may have been done 
since, I have no means of knowing. Notwithstand- 
ing the apparent want of success, I had often reason 
to observe, in the young natives who had been in- 
debted for their education to the missionaries, that 
a new light had been cast upon them. Their respect 
for their instructors was unbounded. From culture 
of the mind, their thoughts took a wider range — a 
more independent tone. If they had not cast off 
the superstitions of their fathers, it was in respect to 
ancient family customs only — not that they had any 
longer faith in them. To become Christians, they 
had only a step to take, but that would involve the 
loss of father and mother, sister and brother. These 
ties are the most potent in all hearts : no wonder 
that they hesitated. 

I have already written of Abdulla Moonshee, 
a native so long connected with the first English 
Protestant missionaries to the Malayan Archipelago. 
He has left an interesting account of his observations 
on them, and their several doings, which is to be 
found in his autobiography, written in the Malay 
language. As, during my various wanderings, I 
have preserved a copy in manuscript, I have trans- 
lated it, not being aware that this has been previously 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



155 



done. I believe that the observations of a Mahome- 
dan native, on a topic so near to the English heart, 
will be found to be curious and entertaining. It is 
as follows : — 

"To go on with my autobiography. It was in 
the Mahomedan year 1239, i.e. in the year of the 
Messiah, 1823, that English missionaries first came 
to Malacca. They consisted of a man and his wife, 
with their girl and twin boys. And the name of the 
missionary was Mr. Milne,* and the name of his 
daughter was Maria, and the names of his twins 
were William and Robert. 

" At the period of this gentleman's first arrival he 
stayed, in the fort, where he commenced a school to 
teach children English. And when he had been 
thus teaching for ten or fifteen days, I first got the 
news of that English missionary's arrival, and of 
his teaching children gratuitously, wherein he 
neither took fees nor other expenses ; but he pro- 
vided paper, ink, pens, and such like. When I got 
the news, I was delighted ; for I still remembered 
the advice of Lord Minto (whom the author had 
met when that nobleman visited Malacca) and Sir 
Stamford Baffles, which was, that if I learnt English 
it would be of great service to me by-and-by ; so, 
ever since I heard these words, 1 had fixed them in 
my mind. Now in Malacca in those days it was a 
most difficult thing to obtain a knowledge of Eng- 
lish ; for there was not yet a school, and when the 

* The Rev. William Milne, coadjutor of Dr. Morrison. 



156 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



sons of the wealthy were anxious to learn that lan- 
guage, they were forced to engage teachers to come 
to their houses at high rates. Even then the 
teacher was inferior ; for he would not be a true 
Englishman, but only a Nazarene (Indo-European) 
who had come from Madras, or else a Hollander 
who had learnt but little of English. Such were 
the teachers of Malacca; and they charged high. 
Thus at that time not one of the various races in 
Malacca knew how to read or to speak English 
correctly, owing to this lack of teachers. 

" To proceed : — One day I went to make the 
acquaintance of Mr. Milne, and to see what he 
looked like, and to gain some information with 
regard to his circumstances, as I never had seen an 
English missionary, or even heard tidings of such a 
person. I had seen the Portuguese missionary, and 
observed how he taught the young. 

" It was about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when 
I arrived at the house and waited at the outside of 
the Venetian windows, for I was afraid to enter, 
whence I observed that he was engaged teaching 
children. I soon perceived that he appeared to be 
an ordinary English gentleman. When he observed 
me, I bowed, saying, 6 Good morning, sir,' for that 
was all the English I was master of at that time ; 
and which I had learnt from Sir Stamford Baffles' 
clerk. When Mr. Milne heard this, he returned the 
salute, and came out and took me into his school- 
room. Imagining that I was clever at English, 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



157 



lie asked me where I had learnt the language ; but I 
could not reply, as I did not understand what he 
said. But there was a boy present who explained 
the question to me. I was then asked if I could 
read and write Malay, to which I replied, ' A little, 
sir.' Mr. Milne then went into a room and brought 
out two or three books of the gospel in the Malayan 
character, which had been printed. When I ob- 
served this, I was much astonished, for I never had 
seen Malay in print, so I scanned the books closely, 
and I could recognise them all, only they were very 
erroneously pointed ; for in the Malay, points are 
not used so profusely as in Arabic. I was dis- 
tressed that there should be so many kinds of Malay 
writing in this world, and considering the subject to 
myself, the thought suggested itself to ask the gen- 
tleman as to the composers of these books. To this 
he replied, that the Hollanders had composed them, 
and translated them into Malay. Then I asked, 
' What are these books ?' to which he replied, ' that 
they were the gospels,' adding, ' take this one and 
read it.' I thanked him and took the book. I 
then said, 'Sir, I am very desirous to learn English,' 
to which he replied, 4 Very well, I will teach you ; 
but you must teach me Malay reading in return.' 
To this I answered, * Very good, I will come to- 
morrow,' so I bowed and returned to my home, 
much pleased. Pleasure the first was, that I had 
got a book for nothing. Pleasure the second, that 
I had heard the words of Mr. Milne, and observed 



158 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



his agreeable conversation and polite bearing ; and, 
pleasure the third, that he had promised to teach 
me English. So I wished to see how the book 
sounded, and to learn its contents, for I took it to be 
a history, as at that time I was very fond of reading 
histories. I had obtained much benefit from their 
perusal, for in them I had learnt the numerous 
mysteries of the Malay language ; so wherever 
there was a history to be borrowed with which I 
was not previously acquainted, I used every means 
to obtain a sight of it. I then read it through, and 
returned it when finished. It was in these that I 
was best read ; for in them I found a stay to rest 
upon ; and by them, under God's grace, I by 
degrees attained the ability to relate the following 
details : — 

a And I may digress from my narrative to 
suggest to those friends who may peruse this auto- 
biography of mine, that they could not fai] to be 
interested were they to make acquaintanceship with 
Malayan histories. For in them are to be found 
many precious things, which at present might 
appear of no value, but whose future use would be 
great, especially should it come to pass that you 
wish to compose a work — or at such times that 
people ask you the meaning of phrases and their 
application. Yerily on such occasions, you would 
recollect that you had met with the phrase in his- 
tory, and that its use was such, and its meaning so- 
and-so. It may be true, as we all know, that there 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



159 



are more lies than truth in history •* but let that be, 
— I do not ask you to believe the fables to be found in 
histories, yet even though the fables be many, the 
truths remain in their places. Further, you should 
bear in mind, that the men who composed these 
histories were clever men, so let us lay hold of the 
skill and science ; and, when we have attained to a 
competent knowledge of all the mysteries, then will 
we ourselves be able to compose, using what we 
may desire of the facts, with a full understanding of 
their meaning and phrases. 

" Notwithstanding all this, how many do we see 
with a knowledge of Malay reading and writing, 
and of Malay history, yet, when we ask them the 
meaning of a phrase which they are reading, they 
are disconcerted and know not what to answer. 
The reason of this is, that such persons are neither 
skilled nor scientific, but are mere quacks. This is 
very generally the case with those who have gone 
the length to learn to read only, which is of little 
use to them, as they cannot compose anything by 
this measure of learning, nor undertake any inde- 
pendent work. Such people may have all the ma- 
terial, but they know not their use nor their manner 
of application. Then how can they become skilled? 
By main force would they be skilled, but they only 
destroy their tools and the articles they are desirous 
of making. The latter also they destroy, and in 
due course the tools waste with rust, and their igno- 

* Characteristic and true of Malayan history. 



160 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST 



ranee. Now when phrases are properly set, their 
sound is sweet, and their words in place ; but when 
not properly set, they are as awkward as one 
puzzled as to the method of pulling up thorns, 

"But to return to my narrative regarding the 
book which was given me by Mr, Milne : — When I 
got home I sat down to read it, spelling at the signs 
slowly, till I had finished one page. Then I got on 
faster, night after night, till the book was nigh 
finished : but as to the book, the letters were 
Malay, and the sounds were Malay, but the idiom 
was not. The phrases were also out of place, and 
the affixes and prefixes incorrect, so I was unable to 
get at the meaning of the text, it sounded so 
strangely in my ears. I thought to call it the 
white man's book, but I did not know the white 
man's language ; so I wondered, and sat musing 
about the circumstances of the book. True, I was 
fascinated with the beautiful lettering and binding 
of the book, but the words had no meaning to me. 
It appeared to be neither Malay nor English, so T 
did not know what to think of it. At length I 
concluded that it had been the work of slaves — the 
labour and expense being great, but the words of 
no value. Next morning I showed it to my neigh- 
bours ; and of those who read it, some could not 
proceed, while others made great efforts, but could 
not make head or tail of it. All, at the same time, 
found fault with me, saying, ' Don't read that book ; 
throw it away. It is the white man's Bible, and 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



161 



will unhinge your faith !' Then I replied to them, 
* How do you know that this is the white man's 
Bible ? is it not Malay ? and how will it unhinge 
one's faith ? What is the meaning of faith ? Is it 
not what we know or believe ? Now consider a 
moment ; were I to read a thousand books on other 
religions, and were I not to believe them, will that 
unhinge my faith ? I will not listen to this foolish 
talk.' So none could reply. 

" After it had struck ten, I went to Mr. Milne ; 
and when I arrived, I bowed to him ; on which he 
called me into his room, and he said, 6 Did you read 
the book last night ?' I replied, 6 Yes, Sir.' Then, 
said he, 'Is it in the proper Malay idiom?' I 
replied, ' Not at all, Sir ; the book is not in the 
idiom of the Malay language.' 6 Then what is it ?' he 
asked. I replied, 6 1 don't know, Sir. Whoever 
composed that book knew nothing of the language ;' 
and on this being interpreted to him, he gave a 
smile, and, going into his inner apartment, he 
brought out a Malay and English dictionary. 
He then asked what is the meaning of one thing 
and then of another, as I. reckon, fifty or sixty 
times : such as patek, and sanghasaan, and sa- 
sangha-nia, and sangsara, and so on ? I replied 
to each question in a moment, and he verified the 
correctness of my answer by the book. On looking 
at the dictionary I perceived that the words were of 
the Malay language of Malacca, and such as I was 
acquainted with. I then asked, ' Who compiled 

M 



162 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



this book ?' to which he replied, that it was com- 
piled by a man of great abilities, called Mr. Marsden. 
Upon which I observed, 'All his book is correct 
Malay, but the book yon gave me yesterday is not.' 
He smiled, and then brought a Malay grammar, 
composed by the same author, and showing it to 
me, asked me to read a ' letter that was in it, and I 
read it, on which he exclaimed, 'That is true 
Malay.' To this I assented, saying that it was 
properly composed, on which he smiled, and con- 
sidering a moment, said, ' Try yourself to compose 
a letter such as I would like to show to a gentle- 
man that knows the language. I replied, ' Yery 
good and he gave me a pen, ink, and paper, when 
I wrote to the following effect, viz : — 

" ' Verily, if any one would instruct other races, it 
is necessary that he should first know his own lan- 
guage, so that there may be benefit in what he 
imparts to the scholar.' After I had done 
writing this he took it, and told me to come 
next morning, without fail. 

" I went next morning, at ten o'clock ; and when 
I arrived at the door Mr. Milne bowed, and asked 
me to enter, saying, 'Your name, I understand, is 
Abdulla ?' to which I replied, * Yes.' He then 
asked if I had been engaged with Sir Stamford 
Eaffles ? I replied that I had. Then said he, with 
a smile, ' You can become a teacher to myself, for 
there are gentlemen who inform me that you are 
learned in Malay.' I replied, 'Sir, I am young 



CHKISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



163 



and inexperienced, and ignorant, how can I become 
your instructor ? for they that are instructors are 
not young men, and they must possess five things — 
First, they must be experienced ; second, they must 
not pride themselves on their acquirements ; third, 
they must be guiltless of evil and foolishness, and 
bear with difficulties ; fourth, they must be familiar 
with the various phrases, their derivation, and 
proper application ; fifth, they must be assiduous 
and attentive. If they have not these requisites, 
they cannot be instructors.'* To this he replied, 
'Very well said. I have long sought for an in- 
structor, being desirous to learn Malay; three 
Malay instructors have offered themselves for the 
duty, and I have asked them to explain words that 
are in the dictionary, and they could not — telling 
me that they were not Malay, but the white man's 
language. Others came again on the morrow, 
on the same errand, and I asked them if they 
had learnt Malay ; but they said, 4 Why learn 
Malay, Sir ? that is our own language/ To which 
I replied, ' Then if you have not, how can you 
undertake to teach other persons ?' So they 
went away, without even saying good-bye to 
me. They were angry because I had asked the 
question ; and only yesterday an old man offered 
himself as my instructor, and upon my asking him 
how many vowels (bunii, literally sounds,) there 
were in the Malay language ? he replied, ' Who 

* Oh, vanity of vanities ! poor Abdulla ! 

M 2 



104 



LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 



can tell that ? there are tens of thousands !' I 
laughed at the extent of his stupidity. Then 
said I to him, ' How can you become my in- 
structor when you don't even know the Malay 
vowels?' On this the old man became angry, and 
replied, that though the hairs of his head had 
become white, he never heard people asking about 
vowels in Malay, and off he went. ' Now, Sir,' said 
Mr. Milne, 6 1 wish to ask you how many vowels 
there are in Malay ?' To this I replied, 1 You have 
asked this question from an old man, and he could 
not tell you ; then how am I, a youngster, to do it ?' 
' Then,' said he, ' Try and think.' I said, 'There are 
three vowels in the Malay language. ' What ?' said 
he. To which I replied, ' Above, below, and before.' 
Said he, 4 What do you mean ?' To this I replied, 
' They are the signs of reading in Arabic, or in the 
Koran, and are fat-hah, the upper sign ; kisra, the 
lower sign ; and zamah, the sign before • and 
because of the Malays not using the Arabic signs, 
they make fat-hah into alif, Msrah into iya, and 
zamah into wow ; and their sound is a, ei, ou V 
Then, said he, £ That is correct ;' and on this day he 
agreed with me, saying, ' Come daily to me to teach 
me, between the hours of ten a.m., and one p.m., 
as during these hours I can apply myself to Malay 
and also teach you English writing. And I will 
also allow you ten dollars a month.' To this I 
replied, 'Yery well, Sir.' He added, 'In a little 
while many of my friends are coming, who will be 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



165 



desirous of learning Malay, and it will give me 
much pleasure if you master the English language, 
as you would thus help us to learn Malay to per- 
fection/ 

"To proceed: — on that very same day he began 
to write the letters alif, ba, ta, this was his com- 
mencement, and to me he gave a little book which 
he called ' spelling book/ whereby he taught me 
the English letters and their sounds. Thus I 
was engaged daily — I taught him first, and then he 
taught me. In about three months' time he began 
to be acquainted with the letters, and could read 
a little, but still not with facility. As for myself, 
I got acquainted with two new languages, for at 
that time Mr. Milne was learning the Canton 
Chinese dialect, with the assistance of a Chinese 
teacher lately arrived, who was called Lee Sin 
Siang. Between this Chinese and myself an in- 
timacy arose ; for he wanted to learn Malay, while 
I had thoughts of learning Chinese ; and so it came 
about that he and I taught each other daily, as 
the Malay proverb goes, ' whilst diving — drinking 
for to my ideas it is better to know than not to 
know ; and if I learnt not while I was young, there 
would be no time when age came on, for then only 
would be the time for repentance. 

" Moreover, I observed the bearing and deport- 
ment of Mr. Milne to be those of a gentleman. 
His conversation was polite and refined. Even in 
anger his countenance gleamed with mildness. He 



166 



LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 



was indefatigable in studying all things, and had 
a retentive memory. If I taught him anything 
in one month and asked him for it in the next, 
he could answer correctly. ~Now while I was 
teaching him, and was being taught, a Mr. Thom- 
son came to Malacca, bringing his wife with him, 
and he took up his abode behind that of Mr. Milne. 
So one day, said Mr. Milne to me, 'A new 
missionary has come, and he wishes to learn Malay, 
and I have told him that I have a teacher who can 
instruct him.. At four o'clock go and wait on him, 
to see him.' I said, ' Yery well,' and went at four ; 
and when he saw me come, he called me up-stairs 
and asked me to be seated, saying, at the same 
time, 'You are teacher to Mr. Milne?' To this 
I replied, 'Yes, sir.' Then said he, slowly, 'If 
you wish to teach me, I wish to learn.' I replied, 
• I don't know, sir, but if you wish to learn, I will 
teach you.' He smiled, and said, ' 1 know you by 
name, for a gentleman in Batavia told me your 
name was Abdulla.' I replied, 4 It is, sir.' He 
asked, ' Were you in Sir Stamford Baffles' employ- 
ment ?' I replied, ' Yes, sir.' ' Did he give you 
testimonials ?' I replied, ' Yes, sir.' Then said he, 
' Try and bring these to-morrow morning for me 
to see.' So I said, 'Yery well,' bade him good-bye, 
and returned to Mr. Milne. Now as I was on my 
way, it struck me that the tone of Mr. Thomsen's 
voice was that of a Dutchman's, as whatever he said 
had a guttural tone ; so I thought to myself, that 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



167 



if this man wishes to learn Malay_, there will be 
some trouble, and his progress will be slow, owing 
to his difficulty of pronunciation. # Besides, when 

I scanned his general deportment, he appeared to 
to be a man of low breeding, and destitute of pro- 
priety. All this I noticed, and surmised that he 
was not a true Englishman. So when I arrived 
at Mr. Milne's, he asked me if I had met Mr. 
Thomsen. I replied that I had. ' What did he 
say ?' I told Mr. Milne, accordingly, all that had 
passed ; so he said, then go to-morrow as his 
teacher. Then said I, ' What kind of man is 
he ?' Mr. Milne replied, ' He is a European ; why 
ask ?' I said, ' 1 thought that he was not English. 5 
Then said he, ' How can you know ?' I replied, 

I I know it by his tongue that he is not English.' 
On this he laughed, saying, ' You are clever at 
knowing English from other nations.' Then said 
he, ' You are right, he is not an Englishman, but 
a German.' I was surprised at this, for during 
my life I never had heard that there was a race 
called Germans. I suggested that he was a Naza- 
rene (Portuguese) ? but Mr. Milne said, 6 No, he 
is a European, and the above is the name of his 
distinct race.' Then said I, ' It will be very diffi- 
cult for him to learn Malay ; his pronunciation is 
so very thick, and his speech is so guttural.' On 
this he said, ' Don't mention that, or he will be 
angry.' I assented, and said, ' Very good, sir.' 

* A guttural accent is very obnoxious to the soft Malay. 



168 



LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 



" To proceed i — On the morrow, at ten o'clock, I 
brought the testimonial that Sir Stamford Eaffles 
had given me, which he read and showed to his 
wife, and smiled. Then said Mr. Thomsen, ' You 
can become my teacher, for Mr. Milne is studying 
Chinese, so has no time for Malay, but I will give 
my attention entirely to Malay till I shall be per- 
fect in it/ I smiled to hear him say so. Then 
he added, ' Malay is very easy to learn ; in two 
years' time I will thoroughly master it ;' and he 
went on to say that for one word of Malay there 
were ten of English, as had been shown to him. 
At this the thought struck me, that this is not 
only a clever man. but that all things are easy to 
him; still, if he had no intention to correct his 
pronunciation, two years would not see him able 
to speak a single word correctly, let alone his being 
perfect in that time. I replied, c If you can per- 
fect yourself in three months' time I shall be de- 
lighted, as I shall thereby gain a good name ; but 
wait till I speak to Mr. Milne, for as he directs 
I shall obey.' So I took leave, and proceeded to Mr. 
Milne, and told him what had passed. Then said 
Mr. Milne, laughing, £ Do as he tells you, for this 
is his way ; he likes people to do as he tells them, 
and if he be thwarted, he falls into a passion. 
Come to me for two hours daily, and then go to 
him. He will teach you English, as he gives his 
attention entirely to Malay, while I am desirous 
to master Chinese. This is the reason why I have 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



169 



no time for Malay. He will give you fifteen dollars 
a-month, and I will give you five.' T assented 
to this, and continued to teach Messrs. Milne 
and Thomsen daily. I was early led to com- 
pare the manners and dispositions of the two 
gentlemen, and noticed much difference. Mr. 
Milne would recognize all my corrections, either 
in orthography or etymology ; but not so Mr. 
Thomsen. When I corrected the latter he would 
argue, saying, ' It is not right that way ; this way 
is correct this he did, perhaps, in a passion. 
His disposition was such as the Malays describe 
by the adage, ( Rain returns to the sky it ap- 
peared as if he was to teach me. A stonished was 
I at the ways of mankind, who exalt themselves 
as alone being clever. At these times I bore with 
him till he got time to consider and coincide. I 
was patient ; for I saw that he was a stranger who 
had not yet gained experience. At times, owing 
to his passionate temper, I allowed him to go on, 
right or wrong, as he listed, without checking him, 
as it was hard to expostulate with him. But on 
these occasions, after he had looked into the dic- 
tionary and found his mistakes, he would fly in a 
passion at me, demanding why I had allowed him to 
speak incorrectly. In this way he made thousands 
of mistakes. All these circumstances I related to 
Mr. Milne, who advised me to have patience a 
little while, as Mr. Thomsen was a beginner, and 
would betimes come to be sensible of his mistakes. 



170 



LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 



" To proceed : — After Mr. Thomsen had studied 
three or four months, and before he could pro- 
nounce words, for jekalau he called jacklow, orang 
he called orangang, trang he called trangang, and 
so forth. Thus, though his pronunciation was 
so defective, yet he essayed to be a writer and 
composer of Malay, and commenced to meddle 
with the three vowels which regulate the sounds 
of all other letters of the alphabet. These are 
alif, eia, and wow, and into all words he ordered 
these to be inserted.* These he would not dis- 
pense with, saying that the Malay scholars are 
wrong in leaving out the vowels so often. Thus, 
into the word jekalau he ordered eia to be inserted, 
which thereby became jei-halau; and into dangan 
he ordered alif to be inserted, which thereby be- 
came da-angan ; and into meleinkan he ordered alif 
to be inserted, which thereby became mela-einkan. 
In the same way he changed mengtaui to mengtdhu- 
wi, tii%gal to tee-angal, kab'ijakan to kabajeeka-an, 
kajahatan to kaja-hataan, mar dika to mardahika, 
teluk to telo-uk, zina to zina-a, kreja to kreja-a; 
but I cannot spare room for all these matters in 
my autobiography.f Besides the above, he severed 
words that should be joined, and joined words that 

* Malay spelling is peculiar in leaving out the vowels, and to Euro- 
peans this appears to "be a defect in their literature. 

t Were a German to come to England, and, after three months' 
study, order his English teacher to spell "if" as "aif," "with" as 
" wiath," " proceed " as " peroceed," what would the English teacher 
think of the German ? Abdulla looked upon the missionary in the 
same manner. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



171 



should be severed. I at length began to think to 
myself that he did not intend to study Malay, but 
to spoil it, his idea being to make Malays follow 
him as they would a very learned professor. Added 
to this, he ordered me to write in the above manner ; 
but I declined to obey him ; for it was opposed to 
my education and experience. Then he pressed 
me to write so ; but I said, ' It is not correct, sir ; 
I cannot do so. If you wish spelling to be done 
in this way, seek another man.' When he heard 
this he almost burst with rage, crying, ' You, my 
servant, and refuse to do my bidding !' I replied, 
' that I did not take hire to do wrong ; for, by-and- 
by, when people saw my performance, they would 
certainly dub me a fool.' I added that I did not 
understand being a teacher to instruct falsely. 6 1 
am ashamed to do what you bid me, sir; so do, 
sir, seek another man.' On saying this I left him ; 
and, when I had left, he went and complained of 
me to Mr. Milne, telling him that he had ordered 
Abdulla to write, and he refused even to stop with 
him. 

" On the morrow I went to teach Mr. Milne ; and, 
on seeing me, he asked why I would not obey Mr. 
Thomsen's directions yesterday, and why I had left 
his service? When I heard Mr. Milne speak so, 
it went to my very heart, and I asked him, ' How 
long have I done work for you ; and have I ever 
been disagreeable, or have I ever disobeyed your 
commands ? It is because Mr. Thomsen elevates 



172 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



himself into a Malay professor, and, with his new- 
fangled notions, wishes to upset the literature of 
the Malays, and institute another system out of 
his own self-conceit. What use can an instructor 
be to him? let him please himself.' Then said 
Mr. Milne, 6 Did I not entreat you to be patient, 
for it is his way.' To this I replied, ' How can 
I have patience when he wishes to upset the words 
and letters of the Malay language ? Were he to 
offer me fifty dollars a -month I would not teach 
him. He would destroy my reputation with my 
countrymen when they came to see such writing. 
He himself knowing little of the language, how 
can he presume to teach me ? How could this go 
on?' Then said Mr. Milne, 'What do you mean?' 
So I related the whole circumstances, and asked 
him to examine my writing, and compare it with 
the dictionary, and that if he found any mistakes, 
to discharge me. I added, ' Compare also my 
orthography.' Then said Mr. Milne, ' I will go 
myself and look over it.' So he went to the 
house of Mr. Thorn sen, and compared my writing 
with the dictionary. He also compared that done 
by the orders of Mr. Thomsen, and, in a short 
time, returned with a smile on his face. He then 
said, ' I have compared your writing, and find it 
all correct, but his is all wrong. I told Mr. Thom- 
sen this, but he then insisted that the dictionary 
itself was wrong, because it followed the Malay 
system of orthography, which was also wrong.' 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



173 



On hearing this, I suggested to Mr. Milne, ' Is 
not Mr. Marsden the highest authority, either 
amongst English, or Dutch, or other nations : is 
he to be excelled? But here Mr. Thomsen, in 
his self-conceit, talks of making a dictionary; then 
if he be so clever, let him make another sort. Con- 
sider this fact, sir, that he tries to make acknow- 
ledged authorities to be wrong, then how much 
the more will he not find fault with me, who am a 
youngster and unlearned? If it is to be so, let 
him look-out for another man to teach him.' Then 
said Mr. Milne, ' Wait, he will come to reason. 5 

u So for five days I did not go to Mr. Thomsen, 
and I heard that he called five or six other Malays 
to consult them, and take their opinion as to the 
new style of spelling which he intended to institute. 
But they all told him that his writing was wrong, 
and must have been done under the advice of an 
ignorant person, and that they had never seen the 
like, nor could they imagine from whence it came. 
So he was silent, but he argued with them in their 
assertions that it was wrong, in the hope that they 
would allow that it was right. All this was re- 
peated to me, but I kept quiet for two or three days, 
and I learned that another man had engaged to 
teach him, but he only remained twelve days, and 
then left. And another went in his place, but he 
also only staid a short while. 

" Moreover Mr. Missionary Milne got another 
house for a dwelling, situated outside of the gate of 



174 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



Tranquera. This had been the house of the har- 
bour-master of Malacca, called Mr. Lamb (Alam ?) 
who had left as his agent Tomby Ahmea Sahib, a 
Kling, as they are called in Malacca. Now Mr. 
Milne arranged to buy land at TTjong Passir, and 
exchange it for the above. And the breadth of this 
land I reckon to be forty fathoms ; but the length 
may be a thousand fathoms, as it extends as far as 
the river. The house was an old one. To this 
place Mr. Milne removed from the fort. Now by 
this time his twin boys, William and Robert, had 
turned out to be smart lads — the third child, Maria, 
(Malia ? ) being a girl. As I went daily to teach 
Mr. Milne, the boys became familiar with me, inso- 
much so that they came to my house to eat and 
drink. Under such circumstances I became fond of 
them, and they of me. Further, Mrs. Milne was a 
nice lady, drawing one's affection and regard with 
gentleness and sweetness of countenance. Her heart 
was generous to all poor people. Now she retained 
a Chinese woman on wages, to sew her children's 
clothes, and the woman came to her one day saying 
that her child had fallen sick from the Pontianak 
and Polong, and was near dying. Mrs. Milne did 
not understand anything about Pontianaks and 
Polongs, and having inquired of the Chinese 
woman in every way she could think of, by words 
and signs, yet she could not understand. So they 
both came into the room in which I was teaching, 
and inquired what were Pontianaks and Polongs. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



175 



I laughed, and explained all about the evil spirits 
(hantu sheitan) believed in by Chinese and Malays, 
at least by the ignorant of them ; the belief being 
the idle custom of their ancestors in olden times, 
which has been brought down to these present 
days. As to a variety of their tales, it is not in 
my power to relate, as I do not understand their 
various ramifications, but only their superficials. 
Such details as I know regarding evil spirits are as 
follows, to wit, hantu sheitan, polong, pontianak, 
peningalan, jin, palibat, mumbang, hantu-pemburu, 
hantu-riniba, jadi-jadian, hantu-bungkus, buta-ger- 
gasi, raks-hasa, naneh-kabayan, hambasan, sawon, 
hantu-mati debunoh-bajang, katakoran, sampakan, 
fofekan, aparet, jambalang, terkina-obatguna, and 
there are numerous others of which I cannot recol- 
lect the details, such as pandook pengasha, kabal, 
kasaktian, terjoo, alimoon, pendrasa, perapoh, and 
many more which are believed in by foolish people 
to be visible to mankind. Mr. Milne was astonished, 
and asked if I knew the stories about them, to which 
I replied, ' If I were to relate the whole, it would 
fill a great volume ; and the contents of that volume 
would be mere foolishness — of no good — and only 
to be laughed at by men of intelligence/* . 

" Then said Mr. Milne, ' Very well, try and tell me 
about the peningalan ; only I wish to hear it, that 
I may translate it into English, so that all men may 

* Abdulla, insensibly to himself, had cast off the superstitions of 
Mahomedanism relating to evil genii. 



176 LIFE IN THE FAB EAST. 

know how foolish are the people that believe in 
these things. So I drew the form of a woman's 
head, down to the neck only, for her body was in 
shreds, and Mr. Milne ordered a Chinaman to en- 
grave this on wood, as also the story of it on 
wooden blocks,* and these he inserted in a periodi- 
cal called the Anglo- Chinese Gleaner. Now as to 
the story of the peningalan, I related it as follows : — 
It was originally a woman who possessed one of the 
powers of Satan. And she had a certain longing, 
for which she craved day and night till the time 
promised by her superior was come — this was, that 
she might fly. So nothing but her head and entrails 
went forth, whilst her body remained in its place. 
And whenever she wished to do evil to mankind, 
she went to suck their blood, and those whose blood 
she sucked, died. And so it was that if the blood 
and liquid that dropped from her entrails touched 
any one, they fell violently sick, even to the bursting 
of their body. Her peningalan had peculiar delight 
in sucking the blood of women in child-birth. For 
this reason it was the custom, when a child was 
born in a house, to lay down jaruge leaves, or 
thorns, on the floor when the blood falls, lest the 
peningalan should suck it, for the peningalan is 
afraid of the thorns entangling its entrails. It is 
told of a peningalan, which came to a person's house 
at midnight, desiring to suck her blood, that the 

* This is the Chinese system of printing, which the missionary 
would have recourse to for want of type. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



177 



thorns on the fence caught its entrails, and detained 
it till daybreak, when it was seen by the neigh- 
bours, and destroyed. Now in regard to houses 
which have been entered by the peningalan, the in- 
habitants must get it into some place, such as a jar, 
where its entrails can be steeped in liquid ; for, by 
steeping, its entrails swell and cannot come out, 
to return to its own body. If they do not steep 
them, they are dangerous, because then they can get 
back into its own body. Moreover, those people 
who have seen the peningalan flying, say that its 
entrails shine brightly in the darkness of the night. 
Such is the story of the peningalan. 

"In regard to the polong (pulang ?), its origin is 
this. He that craves the death of any one, places the 
blood of a murdered man in a long-necked flask with 
such incantations and spells as he has been taught. 
Some say that the spirit has rites paid to it every seven 
days, while others say twice seven, till there comes 
a sound in the flask as of young birds. Then people 
cut their fingers, and drop the blood into the flask, 
for the polong to suck, and the man who watches 
it must be a father ; or, if a woman watches it, she 
must be a mother ; and they do this daily, and the 
object of this is that they may gain power. Thus, 
if they hate a person, they can order the polong to go 
and destroy that person by causing sickness ; or if 
one person hates another person, he goes to the 
watcher of the polong, and, feeing him, the watcher 
lets go the polong into the hated man's house. And 

N 



178 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



it happens with people who have been struck by the 
polong — be it his virgin daughter, his wife, or any 
one — that they scream to their wits' end, tearing 
and throwing off their clothes, biting and knocking 
people, becoming deaf and blind, and so forth. And 
if a person skilled in its cure be called, he will 
poultice the head with cow-dung, or he will pinch 
the thumbs. And when the affected is shown 
medicine, he will bawl out, < Let him go, I want to 
return !' Then says the doctor, ' What medicine is 
that ? and I will let you go ; if not, you (i.e. the 
spirit) must let me know who ordered you to come 
here, and the cause of your coming. Who is your 
father and who is your mother ?' And for awhile the 
spirit will be quiet, and not acknowledge his parents ; 
but, at other times, he acknowledges them, saying, ' I 
am so-and-so, and my native village is so-and-so ; my 
father is so-and-so, and the cause of my coming is so- 
and-so. I went to my father, and my father begged 
assistance, and he feed me with money, because of his 
hatred to this man.' And thus the spirit lets out 
and confesses all. But, at other times, he will lie, 
or he reveals the name of an innocent person. Thus 
when the skilled person has found out the sender of 
the evil spirit, and his motives, he will let it go ; 
when immediately the affected one comes to reason 
again, but sore sick and faint in body. Yet there 
are other spirits — when they do evil to a man they 
will not acknowledge it ; in which case the hated 
man screams, and dies in two or three days' time. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



179 



And when he dies, the blood gushes out of his mouth, 
and his body becomes blue." 

" On hearing the above narration, Mr. Milne said 
that he would translate the story of the peningalan 
into English, and put it into the above-named pe- 
riodical. This he said with a smile, adding, 'What 
a foolish set of people to believe these things !'* 

" Moreover, there are numerous races of mankind 
who believe in divers myths that have no existence, 
and much is the money that goes to pay for the prac- 
tises in such arts. Every one pays for some motive 
or other ; some pay to gratify their lascivious desires : 
others pay to gratify their revenge by the murder 
of their enemies. The motives are various. Now 
at one time I also believed in the above superstitions 
with fear, because I listened to the stories when I 
was young, and I actually trembled when I heard 
old men relating them. But since I came to the 
age of understanding and have read books, and mixed 
with men of sense, and especially with white people, 
I have begun to look upon these superstitions as lies 
and impostures. 

" To proceed : — -To my notion, who am a simpleton 
and unlearned, it is absurd for people to believe in 
polongs and peningalans, and the stories connected 
with them ; for their origin lies in the hearts of 
mankind that have not faith in God and his pro- 
phets, and who are ignorant of the ways of God 

* Persons possessed of a set of " The Anglo-Chinese Gleaner " may 
possibly find the above stories in it. That work must now be rare. 

N 2 



180 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Almighty. Now, for this reason, they wave from 
this side to that, to this belief and to that belief, like 
unto blind men that have lost their way. But, owing 
to doubts in my own mind for many years, I admitted 
things might be true ; and 1 went to some personal 
expense to examine into the truth of the potency of 
the powers aforesaid, and, having made myself 
familiar with the mysteries of the arts, by God's 
grace I found that there was no truth in them. I 
could see no principle within them whereon to fix 
my trust. If the arts succeeded once, they failed 
in a thousand instances, and the single success was 
not by the power or strength of Satan, but 
existed merely in the imagination. Now, to my 
ideas, these doings are the same in principle as the 
doings of men who erect idols ; we perfectly well 
know that these are earth, wood, gold, or silver, 
neither capable of good nor evil towards mankind ; 
and their power consists only in the trust or faith of 
mankind, who worship them. Those men set God 
aside ; for it is believed by those foolish people that 
their idols can bestow benefits, just as it is with the 
spirits of Satan, as related above. Now all this 
occurs, to my apprehension, from imposture or 
falsehood, or else by blind faith, or fault of sight. 
Under these delusions they dare to take God's name 
in vain — a desperate wickedness, now and hereafter. 
Eegarding the people who believe or engage in these 
arts, or who concoct these falsities, the law is, that 
they sin against God. For there is none other than 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



181 



Grod Almighty who can give weal or woe — who can 
cause death or give life — who can send grief or 
pleasure to his servants. A nd if it could he believed 
that there are other powers besides Him, then also 
should we expect that this world would be destroyed 
with all living creatures. # 

" To return to my story about Mr. Milne : — A 
few days after he had removed to his new house, 
Mr. Thomsen also removed to the same quarter, but 
no one taught Thomsen, for people got to know his 
disposition, and were afraid to go near him. At 
length he came to Mr. Milne, asking that I 
should teach him. ; and it happened as he was coming 
down stairs he met me. He saluted me and said, 
' You are angry with me ?' I replied, ' No, sir. 
How do you do?' Said he, 'I am well." After 
this when I saw Mr. Milne he said, ' Mr. Thomsen 
has just been here, and he wants you back again to 
him.' To this I replied, ' How is it that, having 
called all the savans of Malacca to him, he calls me 
now ? I beg many pardons, but I will not teach 
him. It is not teaching that he wants, but an 
opportunity for quarrelling. I do not like this/ 
Then said Mr. Milne, 'I have spoken to him of 
this, and he now acknowledges that he was in the 
wrong : he will now follow your dictation/ I 

* In the above paragraph, while Abdulla casts off the superstition 
of Mahomedanism, he confirms my argument, that the evil spirits 
and genii of that faith are the same in principle as the idolatry of the 
Pagans. 



182 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



replied, ' Then make a strict agreement witli him 
that he is not to be a judge over me, but what I 
teach let him acquiesce in. If I teach wrong, I will 
bow to your judgment.' So Mr. Milne wrote all 
this down in a letter, and told me to take it to Mr. 
Thomsen, who was then in his apartment. So I 
received the letter and carried it to Mr. Thomsen. 
He read it and then said, ' If you agree to teach me, 
I will acquiesce in what you think to be correct.' 
Then I replied, 4 You must not quarrel with me 
as before, as I do not like it.' He said, 'Yery 
well/ 

"So it was that on that very day I recommenced 
teaching him, and continued to do so for two or 
three years. And though I perceived that he had 
altered much from his former ways, yet, even with 
that change, he was very slow in learning the Malay 
idiom. His native guttural remained. And it 
was with Mr. Thomsen, that when he wished to 
translate English into Malay he would keep by the 
English idiom; still would he place the Malay 
words as they stood in the English order. His 
translations thus appeared very strange in the 
Malay language ; and in this affair I had frequent 
wranglings, owing to the unmeaningness of his 
composition. But he could not make any advance- 
ment ; so it fell upon me to correct his mistakes, 
whether in speech or composition ; and whatever he 
wished to translate, he gave the meaning, and I 
composed the same, in Malay. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



183 



" One day Mr. Thomsen said to me, ' Make a 
collection of words in Malay and I will furnish the 
English ones, in order that we may make a Malay 
and English book/ I replied, 4 Yery good.' So I set 
about seeking and arranging the various heads, 
such as sky, earth, month, sun, and so forth. In a 
month's time I had collected about two thousand 
words, each in its division, which I showed to him, 
and with which he was delighted, saying, c This is 
just what I want. I will give the English/ Now my 
personal reason for taking all the trouble about this 
affair was that I wanted to learn English ; and the 
book he called, in the English language, ' Vocabu- 
lary/ It was in manuscript, as it could not be 
printed ; for neither type nor printing materials 
had yet arrived at Malacca. 

"A short time after Mr. Milne had removed 
to his new house, Dr. Morrison* came to Malacca 
to stay with Mr. Milne, and Dr. Morrison employed 
himself night and day without ceasing in learning 
Chinese and writing it. He wrote with a Chinese 
pen (i.e., hair pencil). And it is my opinion that at 
that time there was not a single European who was 
so learned in Chinese literature as Dr. Morrison. 
Mr. Milne got lessons from him. His only fault 
was that he wore the English costume ; for, had he 
put on the Chinese dress, no one would have taken 
him to be a white man. My reason for saying 
this is, that his manner, voice, furniture, and 

* The famous Chinese scholar. 



184 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



instruments, were all Chinese. Astonished was I at 
the ways of mankind. What they accustom them- 
selves to, they obtain ; and for this reason intelligent 
men accustom themselves to good works, so that 
they may be fixed firmly therein from all time. 
There was one quality in Dr. Morrison — that was 
that he had the mien of a gentleman ; he obtained 
great influence over our affections, and his conversa- 
tion was soft and gentle. He gave good counsel. I 
was then in the midst of learning the Gospel of St. 
Matthew, and when I met with difficulties he would 
explain such parts as I did not understand. 

" A short while after this other missionaries ar- 
rived, one by name Mr. Slater ; another afterwards 
came, by name Mr. Angus ; the latter was a young 
man, good, handsome, and clever, and he brought 
with him a kind of machine constructed by ingenious 
men in Europe. The machine was a beautiful one. 
It had a glass disc or round plate, into which he 
put medicine, and then turned it rapidly. And 
while it revolved, if we put our fingers to it, it 
drew sparks out of them. Once he gave us two 
chains of brass near the disc, and he ordered myself 
and the Chinese instructor, Lee Sin Siang, to take 
hold of the chains ; for we did not know what were 
his intentions_, my own impression being that he 
only wanted our help. Then in a moment I felt as 
if the soul had gone out of me. I sat down with 
an extraordinary sensation in all my joints and 
limbs. I thought I had died. If I had had the 



CHEISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



185 



slightest notion that I was to be the subject of such 
a trick I would not have held the chain for one 
hundred dollars. And as to the Chinese instructor — 
don't mention him. He was struck dumb, and his 
face became as pale as a corpse. Messrs. Milne and 
Angus laughed heartily on seeing our condition, 
and told us not to be afraid, for it was a kind of 
medicine, being called (in Malay) quasah pisawat, or, 
in English, electricity. 

" Moreover, Mr. Angus brought a small white- 
coloured, gravel-like large sand, and he put it into 
the fire and made it very hot, by blowing, till it 
melted to the thickness of rice gruel. He then 
poured it out as he wished, when it became glass. 
His department was to teach English reading, 
elocution, and writing ; so I went daily to take 
lessons from him. 

" Furthermore, in a short time came Mr. Maddas 
(Medhurst ?), bringing with him his wife and step- 
child, whose name was Greorge. His wife was not 
a European, but either a Bengal or Madras 
Eurasian. This was apparent, because she could 
speak Tamul well. And, to my apprehension, if I 
mistake not, the wife was older than her husband. 
Now, the disposition of Mr. Maddas was to be very 
earnest at study, and he was head compositor, and 
such like. On his first arrival at Malacca, Mr. 
Milne ordered me to teach him the language and 
read it. It was not very long before he could 
read and speak a little. He studied the language 



186 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



for some time ; but afterwards he commenced 
Chinese. I saw that he had a bright understanding 
and a good headpiece, so that whatever he put 
himself to, he soon mastered. After this came 
Beaton* to Malacca, and I taught him also for some 
time ; but he sailed for Pulo Pinang. Also in this 
month came the type, tools, and printing press, 
a compositor, by name Mr. Hetman, and several 
Bengalese, to work the machine. The person that 
worked the types was named Omar, besides whom 
there was a young man called Aur, who had charge 
of the Malay type. Now this was the first time 
in my life that I had ever seen their type, tools, 
and such like ; and when I saw them I was greatly 
astonished to view these contrivances of mankind, 
whose ingenuity had invented such accurate work, 
and I asked myself who made these ingenious con- 
trivances, and for what purpose ? 

" Moreover, when the box of type arrived, Mr. 
Milne ordered me to take out the various type and 
arrange them, and he also directed me to make 
patterns of the letters on paper for the Chinese 
artizan. At the outset, Mr. Maddas taught me 
the manner of setting the type, and how to hold 
the brass type-holder ; also how to place them 
in the frame ready for printing, arranged so that 
everything would appear correct when printed. 

* Missionary Beaton for nearly thirty years laboured amongst the 
Malays at Penang, and died there. He met with little recompense for 
a life's pursuit. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



187 



In about two or three months' time I had 
mastered this occupation so as to be able to do 
without assistance, and the longer I remained at 
this employment, the better I came to understand 
the secrets of the trade, including those of printing, 
setting, and inking. 

" To proceed : — The first thing that was done was 
in Mr. Milne printing the Commandments received 
by the prophet of God (Moses) on the hill of Tor 
Sinai. I set all the type for this. The next work 
was the printing of the Malay and English vo- 
cabulary of 2,000 words, which I had formerly 
written. After this Mr. Thomsen suggested that 
we should try and translate an English arithmetical 
work into the Malay language, for the use of 
children in schools. To this I assented, as there 
were no arithmetical works in the Malay language. 
I then commenced daily to translate arithmetic 
into Malay ; thus my daily duties were diversified 
by translating into Malay and preparing the 
same for the press, and in this manner that book 
was completed. But, when the book was going 
through the press, there were not enough of 
ciphers, as we had to use an immense number 
of English ciphers in the book. So Mr. Thomsen 
taught me the mode of making types or ciphers, 
and what else was required. We made them to 
our satisfaction, of antimony ; we then tempered 
them. We then struck the metal into brass, 
and thus making our moulds, we cast as many 



188 LIFE m THE FAR EAST. 

as we wanted. We then cut the bottom of the 
type with tools, so that it might become level, 
not irregular in height. Now as to the metal with 
which the type was made, that is, tima sari ; 
it was mixed with certain chemicals to make it 
clear. All this, by God's goodness to me, I was 
competent to do without assistance. And as to 
the letters and ciphers that were wanting, I made 
them up. After this many books were printed — 
books of words for washermen,* for shoemakers, and 
such like. There was another book called Sheitan 
Uarapan (the devil's trust), besides many useful 
books for children in school ; also stories from the 
English translated into Malay. But I will not 
detail all, as this would lengthen my narrative. 
Now, at that period I was very busy teaching these 
gentlemen, and in making and setting type ; so I 
suggested that if there were another person whom I 
could teach to set type I should be very glad, 
as I had no time for the occupation. So Mr. 
Thomsen suggested that I should teach the Portu- 
guese boy called Michael. This I did with much 
personal trouble, he being unacquainted with letters, 
so it was long before he could understand even a 
little, and he made but slow progress in the art of 
setting type, owing to his inaptitude. 

" As things progressed, Mr. Milne commenced to 
build the college as it now stands. He had great 



* The men wash clothes in India. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 189 

difficulty in building it, owing to the area being 
full of cocoa-nut trees, of which he felled several 
hundreds. The artisans were few in number, and 
the wood and materials were enormous. Now when 
all the materials were ready, on a certain day at 
6 a.m., Mr. Milne invited all the gentry of Malacca, 
in number about forty or fifty, and these having 
assembled, each put a dollar below the threshold of 
the door. There might have been seventy or eighty 
dollars. And they all stood round the door when 
Mr. Milne struck it, and called out the name of the 
house as the ' Anglo-Chinese College,' by which 
name it has since been called. This done, all re- 
turned to their homes. The house was about one 
year in building, and when it was finished, he re- 
moved to it from the old house. As to the old 
house, he levelled it to the ground for a lawn. 
Now at this time numerous children of the Chinese, 
Portuguese, and Malays were taught at the college, 
of whom four, five, or even ten, became clever at 
reading and writing the English language. At 
this time, also, many people began to know how 
to speak English ; besides, all the descendants 
of the Dutch in Malacca changed their habits, 
language, and costume — male and female. All 
imitated the English. And many were the times 
that the gentry asked me to call the Malay chil- 
dren to learn to read and write, either in Malay 
or English ; but they would not come, for in their 
stupidity they feared that they would be taken 



190 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



by force and be made English of.* So they would 
not come, as the impression had got hold of their 
minds that force would be used to convert them. I 
urged them to come numberless times, besides I ex- 
plained to them that the English had not the 
remotest intention of converting them if they 
themselves were not agreeable ; but that the object 
was no other than to teach them their own lan- 
guage, or the language of the English, as those 
acquisitions in after-life would greatly facilitate 
their earning a livelihood. I argued : — to learn 
accounts, would that be of no use ? for if they did 
not learn accounts, how could they trade, buy, or 
sell ?f Moreover, I counselled them in many 
ways, but they slighted my advice. The more I 
harangued them, the more they avoided me ; for in 
their thoughts they said I wished to destroy them. 
This feeling arrived at such a pitch that they con- 
ceived in their hearts a spite against me. So I 
was silent. They went and warned my father, re- 
questing him to forbid me to learn the English 
language lest I should fall into English customs, 
and despise my own religion. On this, my father 
forbade me, saying, ' I do not like your going to 
learn the English language and writing ; for not a 
single Mahomedan learns these, and many people 

* That is, proselytized. 

f Abdulla, being a Mahomedan, sought to get all the temporal good 
he could out of the missionaries, not caring to lose his or his own 
countrymen's faith. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



191 



say there is something bad in it, and that it tends 
to hurt our religion.' Now when I heard the words 
of my father, I considered awhile, and asked myself 
from what clique does this foolish talk come to my 
father ? Thus long has he advised me to perfect 
myself, and now he is angry that I have become so. 
Then I asked, 6 Why does my father forbid me to 
learn these things ?' And he replied ' Because 
many men tell me that harm will come to you by 
your following English customs ; for they are a race 
skilled in gaining influence over the mind of mankind. 
I am afraid that harm will come to you by your 
following their teachings/ Then I replied, ' Is it 
not right to follow good customs, and to cast aside 
evil habits ; and if from a simpleton I become 
learned, would that hurt my good name ? You, 
oh my father, have listened to the warnings of fools ; 
they have a spite against me, because I told their 
children to learn rather than to sit in idleness, and 
nothingness. Would it not be better for them 
to learn ?' Then said my father, 6 You are now 
clever with your tongue. I am not able to wrangle 
with you. When you were little, I could correct you ; 
now you are big, I am afraid of you.' To this I re- 
plied, ' Let me not be lifted up thus. Even if I were 
a prince, if I be wrong, I shall be amenable to my 
father's pleasure.' When my father heard this, 
he went into his room to seek a rattan-cane to 
flog me. When I saw that he was in a passion, 
I ran and fell at his feet ; for it was the nature of 



192 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



my father, that however great his rage, if we fell at 
his feet his rage left him. Then said he, ' Yon mnst 
not go to learn to speak and write English : I will 
put you with my brother, the cloth-merchant, to 
learn his trade.' Then I replied, 6 That is well ; but 
let me learn only a little more.' So I went to 
learn.* Now regarding the warnings given to my 
father, I related the same to Messrs. Milne and 
Thomsen. Then these gentlemen said, ' Don't be 
afraid, we will go and see your father this evening.' 
So in the evening they went and called on my 
father, and they begged him not to be afraid about 
his son Abdulla, as they would be careful of him 
till he had mastered both the English and Malay 
languages. They added, it were well that he 
learned yet a little more, as he was the only person 
in Malacca who had a mind to learn, and to qualify 
himself to be an instructor in Malay, and that my 
father would, in after-years, come to see the great 
advantage of such an accomplishment. So from 
that day my father began to think that it was 
better not to be angry because I was learning the 
above. 

" Now as to the people who had warned my 
father, they gave up scheming, because their desires 
were not complied with; furthermore, they lived 
uselessly in idleness ; but God gave me my living, 
for from month to month I obtained money and 
learning to boot. This inflamed their spite. And, 

* The father's authority is slight in the tropics. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES, 



193 



because of my teaching, and being taught by the 
missionaries, these folks nick-named me Abdulla 
Padre* (Abdulla the priest). I was otherwise 
much calumniated by them for imparting our lan- 
guage to the white man ; and I ascribed their rage 
and spleen to their foolishness and my own shrewd- 
ness ; for could a simpleton be a teacher to the 
white man ? No, the teacher must be competent. 
This was the reason of their spite and venom. But 
all their tricks I despised. As the Malay proverb 
goes — ' If a dog bark at a hill, will it fall ? or if a 
tree have many roots, why should it fear a squall ?' 

" Furthermore, I remained at these duties six or 
seven years, and, under those gentlemen, I translated 
many small books into Malay. I also corrected 
many of these gentlemen's compositions ; but I had 
constant grumblings from them, saying, ' It would be 
well for you to get married, and not any longer to 
remain a bachelor.' They added, that it was not 
respectable, and that my father was old. He had 
told them that he wished me to marry on several 
occasions, but that I would not consent. To this 
I replied, ' How can I marry, seeing that I have no 
means, and that my house is dilapidated ? How can 
I marry ?' Then said the gentlemen, 1 Be not afraid, 
we will furnish the wedding costs, and the house 
we will put in repair for the marriage.' On this 
they called my father, and when he had come, 

* Padre means in the East, Christian priest, an opprobrious term 
amongst Mahomedans. 





194 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Mr. Milne said to him, ' Do make arrangements to get 
Abdulla married.' He replied, ' I thank yon, for I 
have night and day no other thought than this one 
yearning in my bowels. He is my only child; I 
am old, and am very desirous to see him married. 
I have often advised him, but he would not consent.' 
Then said the gentlemen, 1 We have spoken to him, 
and he now wishes this affair to be accomplished 
quickly/ After my father had gone away, the 
matter was arranged in the course of four or five 
days ; for I was already betrothed. And when 
things were all settled, my father came and fold the 
gentlemen so. They went and inspected my house, 
and ordered artisans to repair it, sending what 
furniture was necessary from their own houses. 
And they gave fifty dollars by way of marriage 
expenses, saying, if that were not enough, that they 
would give more. So on the wedding day fifteen 
white gentlemen came with their wives, at the 
invitation of Mr. Milne, to dine at my house. And 
all the table furniture, tables, chairs, and attendants 
were brought from Mr. Milne's house, the eatables 
only being furnished by myself. So they dined in 
the upper rooms, where were various kinds of dishes 
spread upon the table. Such as four pairs of fowls, 
four roasted ducks, one sheep cut into large pieces 
in the Kling fashion ; also there was chicken -soup, 
with vegetables, including cabbage and cucumbers. 
Besides these there were numerous kinds of sambals 
(condiments) and fruits, also rice and gravies of 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



195 



twenty descriptions, and sweetmeats of a thousand 
kinds. The upper room was garnished with various 
kinds of decorations, and the ceiling was ornamented 
with flowers and strips of cloth of various devices. 
So they all sat down to eat. And at that time 
many people increased their hatred at seeing me 
mix with white men in my own house ; # but I did 
not heed them : as the Malays say, ' He that digs a 
hole is the one to fall into it.' 

" So the company grew merry and laughed. 
And each gentleman brought his wife and children, 
and I sat with them. And when dinner was over, 
each complimented me, and desired to see my wife. 
"So Mr. Milne took them all to the house of my 
wife, where each shook hands with her. Now this 
was the first time that my wife had seen English 
people, and from thence she was no longer afraid 
of them, nor startled like other women, who, when 
they see the English, run helter-skelter as if they 
had lost their senses. f But these gentlemen, being 
my particular friends, w r ere respectable folks, know- 
ing manners, and proper respect. Now after I had 
been married four or five days, Mr. Milne came to 
my house to see my wife, and our feelings towards 
him were as to our own fathers. If I were in fault, 
my wife complained of me, and I did likewise when 

* In after-years Abdulla was jealous of Europeans going near his 
house. 

f This fear of the English proceeds from various causes. Prostrate 
morality of the natives, native rumours against Europeans, and rude 
manners of English sailors, and others. 

o 2 



196 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



she was in fault, and that gentleman instructed us 
in all our ways. Thus it came about that, as man 
and wife, we held great affection towards each other 
till our first child was born. Now it was feared 
that my wife would have died in her heavy labour, 
so Mr. Milne called Dr. Chalmers to come and give 
her medicine, and to watch till she had been safely 
delivered. 

" Mr. Milne was gentle, mindful, and helpful to 
to me, with great kindness. These benefits I can 
never repay to him. It is God alone who will give 
him seven-fold blessings. I shall never forget him as 
long as I live. It was now only that I was over 
head ande ars in debt : as the Malay proverb goes — * 
' The debt of gold can be repaid, but the debt of 
gratitude we carry to our graves.' 

" To proceed : — I had sixteen or seventeen days' 
liberty from Mr. Milne not to work, excepting at 
the type. These he ordered me to set about im- 
mediately, to see what things were not correct. 
These I corrected. After this he told me to return 
to work as usual. For reasons such as these, 
this good man was called good. While Mr. 
Milne was the head of the college, Mr. Thomsen 
had no power, and could do nothing without Mr. 
Milne's consent. Such were the arrangements. 
Now Mr. Milne begat a son whom he got Colonel 
Farquhar to name Farquhar, and a little while 
afterwards a change in this world fell upon him, 
— his wife died, and they buried her in the fort. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



197 



To look at Mr. Milne, after his wife's death, was 
to see him always buried in grief. He tired of 
study. And after a little while he also fell sick of 
a dry cough, of which he got worse and worse. 
This being observed, the doctors ordered him to 
go to the sea to drink salt water, which he did. 
So he daily went to the sea and he drank his fill, till 
he sometimes vomited. But it was not many days 
before he also died. And whilst he was about to 
die, he directed — nay, ordered — that his liver should 
be examined. This was cut open by Dr. Chalmers,* 
and found to be full of holes like honeycomb, and 
also there were two or three stones found in it as 
targe as peas. As for myself, I remained by Mr. 
Thorn sen, who, in a short time, desired to return to 
Europe to take home his wife, when I was left in 
charge of the printing. 

"Now, after sixteen or seventeen months' time 
Mr. Thomsen returned to Malacca, saying that his 
wife had died at sea when only three or four days' 
sail from England. And he brought along with 
him a great number of tools, such as files and 
scrapers, &c, with tools for making type. The 
possession of these tools gave me greater zest for 
my occupation. 

" Again I perceived in the disposition of Mr. 
Thomsen, that when he was about translating Eng- 
lish into Malay that he returned to his old habits. 
I tried to control him in this and that, telling him 

* Of Croydon, near London. 



198 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



that such a way was not proper, seeing that it was 
in the English idiom, which was quite ridiculous 
when applied to Malay composition. Sometimes he 
would acquiesce, at other times he would say that 
the Malays were wrong, adding — ' I am right, and 
I will not follow the Malay idiom, as it is difficult 
for people to understand it; besides, after the 
Malays have come to be acquainted with my mode, 
they will follow it.* Also in after-times, when 
white men wish to learn Malay, it will make it 
easy to them/ I replied, ' Very good ; as you 
please ; but if you do so in future times men will 
dishonour my name, saying, "What do we care 
about a fool like him ?" ' A few days after this 
Mr. Thomsen said to me, 4 1 wish to translate the 
Gospel of St. Matthew into correct Malay, the 
existing translation by the Dutch being in bad 
Malay ; let us commence to translate, altering what 
may not be in correct language.' I replied, 6 If 
you wish to upset phrases, you must let me 
understand them well, and then I can give you 
the proper words in Malay : don't push me, but 
have patience with me ; and you must further agree 
not to question what I may say is proper.' He re- 
plied, ' Very good.' 

* Translating this sentence according to the Malay idiom, what 
jargon it makes in English! So it may be readily supposed that 
Malay in the English idiom was equally preposterous : — 

Dan lagi kalau suda orang lama lama biasa dalam 
And more if done men betimes acquainted in 
perkataan bagini nanti orang Malay u pun turut 
sayings so wait men Malay also follow. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



199 



" So I commenced to translate that book ; bat I 
felt myself so much limited, for he would not allow 
me to modify the phrases by displacing the words 
in the Malay Bible which was translated by the 
Dutch missionaries, as the book he said must 
not be changed in any way from the original. To 
this I replied, that I had no intention to alter the 
meaning, but only the idiom ; c If I cannot change 
this part, what is the use of correcting it at all ?' He 
replied, ' Other books we may change, but this one 
we cannot change ; 'it would be the deepest of sins 
to do so.' I was astonished at hearing his words.* 
The true sense remained, only the false idiom I 
wished to change to the usage or syntax approved 
of by my countrymen.. If we used phrases that my 
countrymen could not understand, of what good 
could our translation be to them ? Now when we 
were about the translation of the 1st chapter and 
2nd verse of St. Matthew, he would render it in 
Malay thus : — maka Ibrahim peranaklah Iaasic 3 
dan Iaasic peranaklah lakub, dan Iakub peranaklah 
Ihuda dan segala Ludura nia. (Abraham begat Isaac, 
and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas 
and his brethren.) To this I objected as not being 
according to the usage or syntax of our language, 
i. e., Ibrahim peranaklah Iaasic. He replied, 4 What 
then is in use ?' I replied, ' Ibrahim pun beranaklah 

* I can fancy the troubles of a German and a Malay who could not 
speak English in their attempt to translate the English Bible. No 
wonder that they quarrelled over it. 



200 



LIFE IN THE PAR EAST. 



laasic, dan laasic beranaklah Jakub ; or thus deper- 
anahanlah ulih Ibrahim alcan laasic. 9 This is the 
proper Malay idiom ; peranaklah laasic is nofc Malay ; 
furthermore, it has no meaning. To this he replied, 
6 If so, Abraham was a woman, then.' I replied, 
* All men in this world know that in using beranak 
(begat), none but a woman, the wife of Abraham, 
was meant/ • Then,' said he, 4 1 will not acquiesce 
in this ; it will be changing from the English 
idiom.'* As to the meaning of peranaklah, we 
wrangled for an hour, and he "would still have his 
own way. So I said, ' Very well. It is your 
book, and it is your pleasure, so write it.' At this 
he burst into a rage, crying out. 4 What is the 
meaning of peranakV So I replied, e I know the 
meaning of peranak, the same as beranak. So has 
deperboat the same meaning as memboat. It is the 
same as beranak. Is it not better for me to use 
beranak, for all my countrymen know the meaning 
of this expression ?' Then said he, ' In truth I 
will not follow the Malay idiom.' Then I said, 
■ Try and see in the dictionary the meanings of 
peranaklah and beranak 9 He replied, ' All the 
books are wrong ; they follow the Malay idiom, 
which 1 despise.' So I was silent ; but I said in 
my heart, fifteen men such as you will never compose 
a book in this way. I then did as he ordered. I 

* Had German pupils insisted upon an English teacher adopting 
un possible instead of impossible, he would have been as unreasonable 
as Missionary Thomsen. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



201 



continued correcting till we came to the 19th verse, 
which was* — Yusof tunangan Mariam itu orangadil 
dan tiada iya mau membri malu akan dya maka iya 
ingot mau memboang kan dya diem diem. (Then 
Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not 
willing to make her a public example, was minded 
to put her away privily.) To this I said the 
Malays use adil in the law only, or when speaking 
of their princes — adil (just) the opposite of thalim 
(tyrannical). Then said he, 'Which is the better 
way ?' So I said thus : ' Adapun Yusof tunangan 
Mariam itu, orang iang benar adania maka tiadalah 
iya mau membri malu akan dya, maka iya handak 
memboangkan dya diem.' Then said he, ' In the 
original is adil, I cannot change it ; it would create 
another sense.' Thus I felt hampered in not being 
allowed to displace phrases obnoxious to the Malay 
idiom. But, under such circumstances, even though 
he were angry, I could not be satisfied ; for I con- 
sidered that in after-times, when competent men 
examined the book, they would ask who was the 
moonshee or instructor in translating? and my 
name would be brought on the carpet. This was 
my position — a constant state of wrangling. Where 
then was there opportunity to correct the book ? 
Further, in the 2nd chapter and 18th verse, the 
translation goes on thus : — Suda dingar satu suara 
de Rama iya itu ranak dan tangis dan duka chita iang 
amat baniak krana Rachil menangis sebab anak nia 

* In the Malay translation by the Dutch missionaries. 



202 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



dan tiadalah iya mau de hiborkan sebab tiada ada nia. 
(In Eama there was a voice heard, lamentation and 
weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for 
her children, and would not be comforted because 
they are not.) Now this verse I do not under- 
stand.* The phrases — what is their meaning, and 
from whence do they come ? Then said he, 6 What 
is the use of understanding the phrases ? They are 
from the book of the prophets — let them be — never 
mind.' Again, in the 3rd chapter, 1st verse, it is 
thus : — datanglah Jahaiah permandai. (Came John 
the Baptist.) Then said I, ' Permandai is not 
sufficiently explanatory in this place — what is its 
derivation?' To which he replied, 'Id the English it 
is Baptist.' Then said I, £ Let us use that language 
and adopt it into the Malay, for the above phrase 
has no force in the Malay language.' So he agreed, 
and we used Jahaiah baptista. Again, in the 5th 
chapter and 47th verse it is thus : — bukankah orang 
penchukei ada berboat demikian. (Do not even the 
publicans so ?) He wished to adopt the above ; but 
I did not like the sentence, because the idiom is not 
Malay. But, owing to his harshness and wilfulness, 
it was retained. Now, the approved expression is 
orang chukei, or orang memigang chukei. Further, in 
the 6th chapter and 26th verse it is thus : — lihatlah 
segala burong debawah langit. (Behold the fowls of 
the air.) To this I said, ' Do not put debawah 
langit ; people will think it does not relate to birds 

* Nor anybody else ; it is a jargon of Malay words, quite senseless. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



203 



in this world, but those close under the sky (above 
the stars) ; it is better to use iang de udara (of the 
air) but he would not have it, saying, 6 In the 
original it is not so.' 

" To proceed : — I will not dilate on my disputes 
with Mr. Thomsen in the correction of the Malay 
copy of St. Matthew (by the Dutch missionaries). 
He had not yet understood the genius of the lan- 
guage. It thus slowly progressed to completion. 
At times our disputes were of daily occurrence ; he 
would not look at me, nor I at him, for two days 
together. And when he saw that I kept away, he 
came to my house to call me, and all this for no 
other cause than about phrases which sounded 
absurd in Malay, which he would stick to so peremp- 
torily, thus creating disputes between him and me. 
But, let it be known to all gentlemen who read my 
autobiography, that where there are wrong expres- 
sions in the St. Matthew of Mr. Thomsen' s trans- 
lation, or absurd Malay phrases, they must consider 
well the constraint that was put upon me, wherein I 
could neither add nor subtract a single word of the 
book without the concurrence of Mr. Thomsen. 
And I am sensible that in that book there are 
numerous parts with strange sounds by reason of 
words misplaced ; but what could I do to help it, 
especially as I could not know the phrases of the 
originals in the Greek language? Had it been 
confined to the English language, I am here some- 



204 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



what acquainted.* Now, because of all the circum- 
stances mentioned here, let not any gentleman 
slander or rail at my character ; for I was merely 
Mr. Thomsen's moonshee (or instructor) ; though, 
in truth, I do not set myself up as being very 
clever, or faultless; for our very existence is preg- 
nant with wrong. I acknowledge I am not destitute 
of faults. But truly, by God's grace, I am able to 
distinguish between right and wrong in all that 
relates to the idiom of the Malay language ; for I 
have made it my study. I did not attain it by 
hearing it by the way, nor in the bustle of the 
crowd. 

" To proceed : — After we had done translating St. 
Matthew, in a few days Mr. Thomsen said, * Let us 
correct the Acts of the Apostles (Malay copy by the 
Dutch),' to which I said, ' Very good ; but I feel that 
in the Gospel of St. Matthew there are scores of 
verses that are translated contrary to my will, and 
of this I have a full recollection. In those I ac- 
quiesced to your own pleasure. Now you are 
going to begin again, how is it to be ? I know not.' 
Then said he, 6 Where a phrase is difficult, its being 
wrong is of little consequence. Who would mind 
such a thing ? The Acts of the Apostles are more 
like a mere history, so you will correct them easily 
enough. Then I replied, ■ Don't call them easy, sir. 

* He spoke broken English, but could not write, nor had Abdulla 
a critical knowledge of English. 



CHEISTIAN MISSIONAKIES. 



205 



I have read them and cannot understand a single 
sentence, because of the Malay translation not being 
composed in the Malay idiom.' Then said he, 1 Let us 
try, for I would like to correct them.' But it was 
the same as before, so I will not relate the whole 
circumstances, as it will protract my narrative. I 
tried all I could to hold him to the Malay idiom, 
so that the translation might be merely intelligible ; 
but I could not succeed. Notwithstanding these 
difficulties I did manage to partially introduce the 
true idiom, though I had much else to attend to. 
But the corrections were made after much wrangling ; 
for Mr. Thomsen's custom was to steer by an 
English compass while translating into Malay. 
Indeed he may be said to have condemned our 
language ; for, at a glance, one could see that his 
Malay compositions were in an English idiom. 
They partook of nothing that belonged to the Malay 
language further than the separate words. They 
had not even the appearance of Malay literature. 

" To proceed : — Now as to the Gospel of St. 
Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles, they were 
first printed at Malacca ; and in regard to the com- 
position of the manuscript, the spelling, the grammar, 
and such like, all these were written down with my 
own hand. After the first edition (I do not know 
how many others have been printed at Singapore 
and Malacca) when I look at the books even now, 
I must say that, from beginning to end, there are 
not to be found ten phrases which are not wrong. 



206 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



They are full of errors, whether in the syntax or 
in the prefixes and affixes. That which has no 
proper existence he has created — that which has 
existence he has ignored. For the generality of 
moonshees (native teachers) that have not been 
trained set themselves up as great scholars in 
Malacca — all they want being wages ; so they have 
neither skill nor knowledge as to the proper letters 
(to wit), which words to spell with the alif and 
which words to spell without alif. And as to the 
eia and wow, if they stuck them in anywhere, they 
were satisfied. They knew not the origin of the 
phrases, from whence derived, and whether or not 
the original was spelt with alif. They knew nothing 
also as to spelling. They put one here and another 
there, some adding and some subtracting according 
to their sole pleasure. Now if things are to go on 
in this way, in twenty years' time the Malay litera- 
ture will be a dead one, in so far as relates to its 
grammar, spelling, construction and style of com- 
position. And as time runs on, one person will 
write so that another will not be able to read, owing 
to each altering as he pleases. Some subtract, 
while others who are not apt at reading Malay, add 
alifs, eias, and wows, for their own ready reading. 
Now, to my ideas, such people think that they have 
created a sky, moon, and sun. And all this comes 
of white men being insufficiently taught, and of my 
countrymen carelessly teaching. They think they 
can make an ass into a horse by means of bathing, 



CHKISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 207 

rubbing, and lathering. An easy way to make a 
horse, this ! But they do not consider that if his 
origin be a horse, he will remain a horse, and if his 
origin be an ass, he will remain an ass. Now this 
is the end of a meagrely-paid teacher of reading and 
writing, the ass can easily become a horse, but to 
my understanding they wish not to instruct in the 
Malay language — they only wish to make a mess of 
it. Further, the drift of the intentions of such fools 
is that they think to have the honour of men copy- 
ing their compositions, in order that they may be 
lionized as great authors. Little do they think 
that the really learned may come to examine their 
works ; for assuredly when this happens they will 
be set down as ignoramuses and coxcombs.* 

" To proceed : — Would you (oh reader !) not be 
ashamed were the learned to see the book of the 
Gospels in such a style of grammar and spelling 
as is never used by my countrymen ? What will 
men in after-times think of them? These books 
are believed in by the followers of the Messiah, 
who honour them. Will not these books be referred 
to as an authority for phraseology and spelling, also 

* Notwithstanding Abdulla's great love for Malay writings in the 
Arabic or mixed ( Jawi) character, it must be held to be incomplete. It 
is more of the nature of short-hand, so the sounds of words are left 
doubtful. The character has been used for probably 400 or 500 years, 
and must have supplanted one of the Hindoo alphabets. The Eoman 
alphabet is infinitely superior, and ought to be used by missionaries and 
others whose pursuits lead them to write or compose in the Malay 
language. The Malays have very generally adopted the Eoman 
numerals. 



208 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

as a place from whence to extract or borrow appro- 
priate expressions ? But if you compose in the 
above manner, you destroy the Bible, and lower it 
in the eyes of people.* For all persons would sur- 
mise that the translators were mere ignorant people, 
or disputers who had no learning. But it is not 
the grammar and spelling alone ; for there are 
many misconstructions of the real sense, as dif- 
ferent as the earth is from the sky. As far as the 
originals are concerned, it may or it may not be as 
I state, for I am not learned in the originals (meaning 
the Greek and Latin texts) ; but still I feel that 
they are wrong in the meanings they convey. 

" Furthermore try yourself (oh reader !) and com- 
pare the Malay Grospels by Thomsen, which were 
printed at Singapore, and you will see, in page 201, 
verse 28, that they read as follows : — Maka tatkala 
Simon mengangkat anak Isa itu pada tangan nia 
lalu memuji allah. Now there is a great mistake 
here by following the English idiom. Each Malay 
word is set in the English Bible order, thus ignor- 
ing the Malay idiom. Those who know the inten- 
tion of the English text would translate it into 
Malay in the following manner : — Maka angkut ulih 

* It is a pity that so much time had been wasted ; the harm done to 
the work must have been incalculable. It is scarcely possible for a 
European to grasp the subtilties of a foreign language, so he must bow 
to the learned natives in all things that relate to idiom. I question if 
any of the missionaries were acquainted with general Malay literature, 
their histories, poetry, and tales. Without a critical and familiar 
knowledge of these, it would be absurd to attempt independent 
composition. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



209 



Simon akan kanah kanak iga itu Isa. This is my 
view, for I have never heard in the Mahomedan 
religion, and especially in the religion of the 
Messiah, that Jesus had been married — if not, how 
came he to have children ? (according to Thomsen's 
Malay translation.)* Now the above I have ex- 
tracted from the Gospel of St. Luke. Who was 
the native teacher that taught thus ? Or who was 
his disputer ? And if it be found that the English 
composer had overuled his native teacher, it would 
be under the impression, that there was no neces- 
sity to watch the meanings well — that all that could 
be attempted was to transcribe phrases, nothing 
more, it being a mortal sin to change a single 
phrase in the word of God on any account whatever. 
All this is done as a hood-wink to ignorant gen- 
tlemen, who provide the means to translate the 
Gospels into Malay, and so the work executed is 
quite contrary to the object sought to be attained 
by their task. 

"Now of a truth, the above is not the only 
example ; there are hundreds which I have detected. 
Have patience ; oh reader, a little, and I will point 
some of them out, for the information of you gen- 
tlemen who peruse my autobiography. Turn to 

* To Malay scholars Abdulla's reasoning will be quite apparent ; for 
those who are not, I will explain that anak Isa, in Malay, means the 
children of Jesus. The child Jesus, in Malay, can only be translated 
into Malay by the compound expression given by Abdulla. Malays 
would be misled in an important matter by Thomsen's adherence to an 
English idiom in a Malay translation. 

P 



210 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



page 120. Maka heiran segala orang terchanjang 
serta bertaniak sorang kapada sorang Kata nia apa 
Karangan halnia pengajaran bharu mana itu Krana 
ding an Kwasa nia iya meniuroh deri pada liantu iang 
nijis lagi, dan marika-itu menurat titah-nia. Now 
the meaning of this is^ that the unclean spirits, after 
having done certain work, were ordered by Jesus to 
do something else, and that they executed his orders 
accordingly. 5 * Again, turn to page 138, verse 4. 
Maka berkatalah Isa pada marika-itu bliawa sorang 
nabi tiada korong hormat maleinkan dalam negri-nia 
dan autara kaluar-ka-nia dan dalam ruma-nia. The 
meaning of which is that all prophets obtain great 
honour in their own country, and during the time 
that they are out of it and in their own houses. f 
Again in page 303, verse 70. Maka berkatalah 
angkau samoa adakah angkau ini anak allah — maka 
berkatalah— iya — pada marika—itu, bhawa Kamu 
Katakan aku ini adadya. The meaning of which is, 
are you keeping the son of God, then said J esus he 
is present who asks this of him, (see Matt. ch. 26, 
vv. 63 and 64.) Again page 330, verse 38. Aku 
suda meniuroh Kamu menoi barang iang Kamu tiada 
mengrejakan maka orang lain suda berkreja dan 
Kamu suda masoh perkrejaan-nia. The meaning of 

* Luke iv, 36. Christ only ordered the unclean spirits to come 
out. 

f Matt, xiiic 57. Nabi tiada ~korang hormat means, The prophets 
have a large measure of honour in their own country, which is contrary 
to the English text. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



211 



which is, ' other people who worked, then the same 
people entered along with them/ Is this the true 
meaning? Now the real meaning is this, as in- 
tended by the Grospel : — c Whereas I ordered yon to 
pray for things unceasingly which other people also 
pray for, but you have got them ready prepared for 
you with the fruit thereof/ Farther, in page 342, 
verse 45 : — Suda tersurta ulih nabi nabi bhawa samoa 
akan pelajari ulih allah. The meaning of this 
phrase is this :— ' All have taught Grod. Who was 
God's instructor? 5 Again, page 344, verse 67: — 
Maka sebab itu berkatalah Isa Kapada dua bias orang 
itu adahka angkau lagi handak purgi. The meaning 
of which is : — ' All having gone before, so Jesus 
asked them if they wanted to go further and further.' 
Again, page 351, verse 9: — 1 Maka Kaluarlah marika 
itu Sorony dami Sorong mulai deripada iang tuah 
datung Kapada iang ahir. The meaning of which 
is : — ' If those should live who came out, thought 
he.' Again, verses 60 and 55, as they are arranged 
to the end ; again, 59 and 17 in the middle of the 
verse — itu apa Kata mu akan dya sedang iya mem- 
buka mata mu, maka Kata iya nabi. The meaning 
of which is : — ' At the time he opened my eyes, what 
did you say to him ? and he said you are a prophet.' 
Again, page 365, in the last verse — itu Kata isapada 
marika-itu bukau-kah ada tersurat dalam turut mu 
aku suda berkata Kamu adalali. The meaning of 
this is : — c You are from the wars, or from the 
gaming-table, or such places ;' but I know the 

p 2 



212 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



intention of the phrase not to be this, for Thomsen 
did not understand English.* 

"It was his custom when writing English to 
spell God with a small ' g,' now that is the same as if 
God were an idol or a demi-god. But if spelt with 
a large f Gr/ that means the true God. And this 
system Thomsen wished to carry on with the 
Malay language. Acting on this principle, he took 
one I (lam in Malay) out of Allah, which became 
alah, a word of a different sense altogether, as it 
signifies to vanquish one's enemy. But I will 
now stop from my account of Mr. Thomsen, for I 
was a thousand times the greater simpleton for dis- 
puting with him, and I will return to my own story 
while engaged in the duties of my employers — such 
as in teaching Mr. Thomsen, and in working at 
what he set me to." 



The above dry details of the study class-room 
and printing-office, with their controversies and dis- 
putations, deprive missionary labour of its romance, 
but not a whit of its high aspirations — -its profound 
faith — its expansive charity. Noble and enduring 
feelings must indeed support the patient Christian 
in his arduous and ill-requited task. First efforts 

* There must have been careless copying in the Malay manuscript 
in my possession, as I have had great difficulty in making any sense 
out of much of the above. And as Abdulla has given us the pages of 
Thomsen's book instead of the chapters of the Testament, the exact 
quotations can only be guessed at. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



213 



are generally faulty, and there can be no doubt that 
this has been the case with the first translations of 
the Bible into the languages of the Far East. In- 
deed a great deal is mere jargon- — a fact much to be 
regretted. The superhuman task of the Protestant 
missionary being to plant his creed on the intelli- 
gent sympathies of remote races, his progress to 
this end must necessarily be slow and by degrees. 
The work is best commenced by teaching the 
young ; and, may I ask, what is a single generation 
to the long span of a nation's life — the epoch of its 
birth, progress, and decline ? It is nothing. 

I have often been struck with a passage in the 
fascinating romance of Jane Eyre. St. John says, 
" A year ago I was myself intensely miserable be- 
cause I thought I had made a mistake in entering 
the ministry ; its uniform duties wearied me to 
death. I burnt for the more active life of the world 
— for the more exciting toils of a literary career — 
for the destiny of an artist, author, orator ; any- 
thing rather than that of a priest ; yes, the heart of 
a politician, of a soldier, of a votary of glory, a lover 
of renown, a luster after power, beat under my 
curate' s surplice. I considered ; my life was so 
wretched, it must be changed, or I must die. 
After a season of darkness and struggling, light 
broke, and relief fell : my cramped existence all at 
once spread out to a plain without bounds ; my 
powers heard a call from heaven to rise, gather 
their full strength, spread their wings, and mount 



214 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



beyond ken. God had an errand for me ; to bear 
which afar, to deliver it well, skill and strength, 
courage and eloquence — the best qualifications of 
soldier, statesman and orator, were all needed ; for 
these all centre in the good missionary. 

" A missionary I resolved to be. From that 
moment my state of mind was changed ; the fetters 
dissolved and dropped from every faculty, leaving 
nothing of bondage but its galling soreness, which 
time only can heal. My father indeed opposed the 
determination ; but since his deaths I have not a 
legitimate obstacle to contend with; some affairs 
settled — a successor for Morton provided — an entan- 
glement or two of the feelings broken through, or 
cut asunder — a last conflict with human weakness, 
in which I know I shall overcome, because I have 
vowed I will overcome — and I leave Europe for 
the East." 

The above is the romance of missions, the apostle 
has not yet got entangled in the drudgery of his 
labour. And how did imagination portray his 
labour and its results ? We turn to the end of the 
volume and see. 

"As to St. John Eivers, he left England : he 
went to India. He entered on the path he had 
marked for himself; he pursues it still. A more 
resolute, indefatigable pioneer never wrought amidst 
rocks and dangers. Firm, faithful, and devoted — full 
of energy, and zeal, and truth — he labours for his 
race ; he clears their painful way to improvement ; 



i 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 



215 



he hews down like a giant the prejudices of creed 
and caste that encumber it. He may be stern, he 
may be exacting, he may be ambitious yet, but his 
is the sternness of the warrior Greatheart, who 
guards his pilgrim convoy from the onslaught of 
Apollyon. His is the exaction of the apostle who 
speaks but for Christ, when he says — c whosoever 
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up 
his cross and follow me.' His is the ambition of the 
high master spirit which aims to fill a place in the 
first rank of those who are redeemed from the earth, 
who stand without fault before the throne of God ; 
who share the last mighty victories of the Lamb, 
who are called, and chosen, and faithful. 

" St. John is unmarried ; he never will marry now. 
Himself has hitherto sufficed to the toil, and the 
toil draws near to its close ; his glorious sun hastens 
to its setting. The last letter I received from him 
drew from my eyes human tears, and yet filled my 
heart with divine joy ; he anticipated his sure re- 
ward — his incorruptible crown ! I know that a 
stranger's hand will write to me next to say that 
the c good and faithful servant ' has been called, at 
length, unto 'the joy of the Lord.' And why 
weep for this ? No fear of death will darken St. 
John's last hour ; his mind will be unclouded, his 
heart will be undaunted ; his hope will be sure ; his 
faith steadfast. His own words are a pledge of this. 

"My master," he says, " has forewarned me. 
Daily he announces more distinctly, c Surely I come 



216 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



quickly !' and hourly I more eagerly respond — 
' Amen ! Even so come, Lord Jesus. 5 " 

Fiction is often too true to nature, where hope 
is blasted, labour unrequited, devotion unavailing, 
the task heartless, the life's aspirations of no 
apparent effect. This has been too much the hap- 
less fate of Christian missionaries in the Far East. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CIVIL SERVICE. 

Thirty years ago the East India Company's Civil 
Service was rapturously named " the finest service 
in the world." To live in it for twenty-one years, 
and to do nothing, either good or bad, but merely to 
beware of committing oneself, was all that was neces- 
sary for the attainment of fortune, pension, and 
honour. The service was at that time the utopia of 
the children of British papas and mammas. Fortune, 
pension, and honour were the delicacies ready pre- 
pared for the fortunate youth designed for the 
Honourable East India Company's Civil Service. 
Once nominated, he had no further care in this 
world ; for had he not talents for the political or 
revenue departments, he was always fitted for the 
sacred office of a judge. And were he not fitted 
for that even, it was of little consequence — he could 
always draw his monthly salary bill, and take his 
pension in due course. But this was not always so. 
In the early times of the East India Company's 
Government their service was at great discount with 



218 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



the English public. In these early times the Direc- 
tors were glad to get young men to go out, and, in 
order to keep them, they were held under bond and 
security not to abandon the service. 

In these early days the East India Company 
were mercantile adventurers, and their servants 
were adventurers of all grades ; yet it is a melan- 
choly truth that these adventurous times were the 
times of the Company's true greatness. This was the 
period of true heroism, such as is sure to be brought 
out when great achievements may be entered upon 
by the enterprising and needy of the British of all 
classes. It was in these times of toleration of the 
Englishman, as a whole, and not as a clique, in 
India, that the Company laid the foundations and 
reared the structure of a great empire. It was in 
these times that the Hindoo learnt to respect the 
transcendent bravery of the British ; to venerate 
their chieftains, and to adore the self-devotion of 
their followers. It was in these times that the 
prestige of the British arms and statesmanship 
attained the highest point ; the result of a virtually 
open service. But the empire once won, and secu- 
rity from European intervention attained, a new era 
dawned in the East India Company's policy towards 
the British public. 

With empire and security came ease, luxury, and 
great riches ; the consequence was that the East 
India Company's service became extremely popular 
amongst British papas and mammas. The service was 



THE CIVIL SERVICE. 



219 



run upon too eagerly, so it had to be closed against 
the educated public, and made a forbidden preserve, 
in which there must on no account be poaching. 
The lucid idea did not occur to the East India 
Company's Directors — the interested monopolizers of 
all patronage — to reduce the emoluments with the 
times, and thus increase and add to the efficiency of 
the staff — a measure that would have done great 
good, both to England and to India. No, this 
would have curtailed their selfish patronage. And 
further, the Directors amiably opined that there was 
no necessity for efficiency, because they had number- 
less faithful Sepoys, with long muskets, to prop up 
the old gentlemen in their misgovernment, through 
thick and thin, come what might. The main point 
with the old gentlemen was their patronage, and the 
next was, that the old ladies might get their sons 
back, as soon as possible, with pockets full of rupees. 
Such was the latter-day state of the case ; and 
during this period arose a privileged class of salt- 
impounders, opium-collectors, and tax-gatherers of 
all denominations. The policy of these selfish old 
gentlemen of the India House perpetuated a cove- 
nant or bond long after the bond had become null — 
the covenant obsolete. And why were these per- 
petuated ? Simply as a blind to the British people ; 
simply by way of excuse for grasping the monopoly 
of hardware against Sheffield — of soft goods against 
Manchester — and wines and beers and spirits against 
London and Liverpool : again, for grasping the 



220 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



monopoly of all honour, power, and advancement 
against the educated of all England. Such was the 
fascination of the British parliament that the sacred- 
ness of a " closed service " acted as an efficacious 
" blind" till the year 1858. Up to this year a 
small clique of Englishmen, under the semblance of 
an obsolete covenant, held the patronage of an em- 
pire against the worthies of all England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. 

Although the nominees to the East India Com- 
pany's Civil Service were termed in India the 
privileged classes, they were not drawn from the 
privileged classes of England. The selections were 
not confined to the nobility of the United Kingdom. 
In fact, though the service was closed most rigidly 
against all out of the limited circle of the India 
House, there was no exclusion of the plebeians for 
the sake of the patricians — no exclusion of the trades 
for the sake of the professions — no exclusion of the 
commons for the sake of the lords. In this respect 
the East India Company's closed service embraced 
a latitude profoundly levelling. Her Majesty's 
lieges in India had the pleasure of being governed 
by sons of lords and tallow-chandlers — sons of baro- 
nets and coffee-grinders — sons of knights and semp- 
stresses. These inconsistencies were most perplexing 
to the unbiassed observer. Carr's mill, at Carlisle, 
was said to take wheat in at one end and to pour 
out ready-made biscuits at the other. So the East 
India Company's civil nomination was an equally 



THE CIVIL SEE VICE. 



221 



wonderful machine in taking raw plebeians at one 
door and sending them forth spurious aristocrats at 
the other. The rapidity with which this transmu- 
tation was effected was highly interesting, No 
sooner landed in India than the young hopefuls 
would issue forth as full-fledged " Esquires, 5 * magis- 
trates, political envoys, and secretaries of embassies. 
The prestige of the Company, it was thought, sup- 
ported as it was by the lean Bengal Sepoy, would 
cover all deficiencies of brains, blood or birth. It 
was naturally enough thought of the Hindoos, as 
they had not come to the knowledge of good and 
evil, they would be faithful dogs and love the 
masters that kicked them. 

Looking at the subject from a scientific point of 
view, it may be said that of all the East India Com- 
pany's civilians, those of the Bengal presidency in 
these modern times, had in the course of a century, 
most deteriorated from the good old English type of 
mankind. The causes of this were various, but the 
principal may be easily stated — viz., isolation from 
their countrymen, enervation by the climate operat- 
ing during their own lives and those of their civilian 
fathers, and contact with a servile population. The 
young civilian on arriving at Calcutta was soon for- 
warded into the interior, to live amongst the feeble 
Bengalese, over whom he held powers that, in other 
countries, are only accorded to the tried, the sage, 
and the experienced. Amongst this poverty-stricken, 
humble, and timid people he would be shut up for 



222 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



years, and they approached him as if he were a 
God, and addressed him as if he were a God. 
Such was the prostrate ignorance of the population 
by whom he was surrounded that their mode of 
address would in other countries be termed very 
profane. They would address the young civilian 
as the God-like — mighty as God. In their daily and 
hourly approaches to the white official, the natives 
would clasp their hands as if in humble prayer, and 
then they would fall down on the bare dust, clasping 
their hands over their heads, and adore the Khoda- 
wun (the God-like). 

In a steaming, debilitating climate like this one, 
surrounded by an utterly demoralized population, it 
is not to be wondered at that the privileged son of 
a grocer or tallow-chandler should develop into an 
arrogant, narrow-minded, inflated Anglo-Bengalese. 
Leaving his country before his mind had been 
formed, what else could be expected ? It is 
wonderful that there should be exceptions to the 
above species of development. I have met the 
Anglo-Bengalee civilian on many occasions during 
the twenty-five years of my residence in the Far 
East, and while moving about out and home, by 
steam and rail, in social meetings, at balls and sup- 
pers, public and private, and I have found him much 
the same everywhere. As a class, the Bengal civil- 
ian would be termed by his equals in general society 
a supercilious and unsocial being. In many ways he 
was glaringly peculiar, the result of isolation, want 



THE CIVIL SERVICE. 



223 



of communication or exchange of ideas. These dis- 
advantages under which he laboured gave him a 
false estimate of his own importance. He was 
placed so far above the population in India by 
whom he was surrounded, that he could have no 
intelligence as to their political feelings or affections. 
That he was fast losing his English sympathies 
has often been surmised by his countrymen, and if we 
may judge by a letter published in the London 
Times in the year 1856, by a Madras civilian, 
there were grounds for this surmise. This civilian 
threatens discontent if his salary is to remain at 
only 2,4 00£. per annum ! Where would the auto- 
cratic officialism of India have ended had their 
faithful Sepoys not woke them out of their dreams 
in the succeeding year, 1857. 

The events of that year drew the attention of the 
English public to an earnest consideration of the 
affairs of India — a consideration too long post- 
poned. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE UNCO YEN ANTED. 

Thirty years ago no Englishman had a right to 
put a foot on the soil of India unless he had ob- 
tained due authority from the Court of Directors, 
who sat in the India House, Leadenhall-street. 
Such persons, not being in the service of the East 
India Company, on going out to India, had there- 
fore to be provided with a permit. All persons 
sent out by the Court of Directors, whether for 
civil or military employment, went out under bond 
or " covenant " for a term of service. Thus they 
were termed " covenanted servants." So that Euro- 
peans in India became divided into two classes — 
" covenanted " and " free," the former being servants 
of the East India Company, the others being in 
business of their own. In India a " free trader " 
meant the ship of a private merchant, such as of 
London, Liverpool, or Glasgow. A "free mer- 
chant " meant a private European settled in India. 
A "free settler" meant a private planter. Thus 
all Europeans in India were " bond " or " free ;" 



THE UNCOVENANTED. 



225 



and contrary to usual custom, the " bond " had all 
the good things to themselves; the "free" were 
allowed to eat the crumbs from off the table only, or 
starve. As the empire increased, so did its call for 
public officials. The wives of the Home Directors 
could not bear sons fast enough to fill up the posts 
created by the spread of empire. The native 
army was next denuded of its best officers to fill 
up the blanks in civil employment, and this went 
on till it could scarcely be said to be officered 
at all. This state of matters would have alarmed 
any government but that of the selfish East India 
Company, who had august faith in the fidelity of 
the Bengal Sepoy, and an overweening presumption 
in its own prestige. But the exigencies and respon- 
sibilities of the service increased, so a dire necessity 
arose of employing such free settlers or private 
gentlemen as could be induced to give up their own 
engagements. These stepped forward from time to 
time to assist in the work of the country, whether 
as magistrates, police-officers, revenue-officers, or as 
surveyors and civil engineers. To this class the 
name at the head of this chapter was officially 
appended — not on the grounds of difference in 
birth, blood, education, or efficiency — but for the 
sake of distinction between them and the civil ser- 
vice under " bond," who were termed, par excellence, 
the privileged classes, as our time-honoured and 
revered nobility are termed at home. 

This would appear ridiculous in England — not so 

Q 



226 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



in India. A privileged postmaster was quite appro- 
priate to the genius of the government, and so were 
privileged tax-gatherers, opium-superintendents, bill- 
drawers, and money-hoarders. It naturally came 
about that these privileged officials, with all power 
vested in their own hands, strove for a distinction 
where there was no difference. An attempt which 
involved many disagreeable concomitants to their 
free countrymen. Thus, while the privileged classes 
drew four to ten times more pay than their uncove- 
nanted brethren, they at the same time had the 
greatest care taken of their health, comfort, and en- 
joyment at the public expense. A gouty toe would 
get a privileged official leave of absence from India 
on full pay ; a gouty toe would keep him in the 
enjoyment of the amusements and gaiety of the 
metropolis of England or France, in the smiles of 
his friends and in the routine of fashion ; a gouty 
toe would, in fact, do all that a noble could ask for ; 
and a gouty toe would give him, at the end of 
twenty-one years, an ample pension for life, without 
doing a stroke of work for it. Regulations for 
sick-leave, on the most liberal scale, were drawn 
out for themselves, and duly passed by, and ap- 
proved of, by their papas and uncles in power. 

And, as the empire grew older, so did the civilians 
intermarry, and so tighten the ties of consanguinity, 
that no oligarchy could be more firmly seated or 
enduring. And it was thought that no treasure 
could be more secure than the moneys drawn from 



THE UNCOVENANTED. 



227 



the land-tax, salt-tax, and opium sales of India, 
which ministered to these comforts. For were they 
not guarded by the pet Sepoy, who, contrary to hu- 
manity of the common type, cared nothing for him- 
self — all his care was for his master. His fidelity 
was a subject of surprise, wonder, and admiration. 

Now the free, educated English gentleman who 
had entered the East India Company's service, while 
he was uncovenanted, was also entirely unprivileged. 
If he got sick, he might die in harness. His leave 
of absence from duty was on the most circumscribed 
scale ; for, argued his liberal masters, if he got leave 
to go home, we cannot refuse the Hindoos the same 
grace — we must deal equally with these two castes. So 
if the uncovenanted English official got leave to go to 
another settlement only, his pay was docked ; and if 
he was forced to return to his native air, he lost pay 
and appointment altogether ; with all the extra re- 
quirements pressing on him due to his living in a 
climate baneful to his health, destructive to his 
comfort, and dangerous to his life. The East India 
Company had no more respect to the wants of their 
countrymen than if they had been the lowest native 
menials — to whom that same climate was enjoyment. 

This policy towards Englishmen in India was the 
work of the Home Directors, who, having no local 
knowledge or sympathies, saw everything in India 
with the narrow view of self-interest or family 
aggrandizement. It is but justice to the heads of 
departments in India to state that, in many cases, 

Q 2 



228 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



while they fully appreciated the earnest faithfulness 
and energetic exertions of their uncovenanted Eng- 
lish assistants, they were debarred, by the inexorable 
rules of a closed service, from promoting either 
their interests or comforts. Prior to the year 1855 
the feelings and prejudices of the Home Directors 
cast a dead damp on anything like liberality, or 
even equity, towards their free English servants. 

This policy of the East India Company towards 
the educated English uncovenanted servant, while 
it lowered the position of their countrymen in the 
eyes of the natives, who were keen observers in 
all things relating to caste or rank, insensibly, I 
believe, led the privileged officials into a course 
subversive in itself of all British loyalty. As the 
uncovenanted English servant advanced in years 
and experience, so did he become the more useful 
and necessary. His more intimate acquaintance 
with the natives, their social habits and prejudices, 
gave him a personal influence that the high un- 
approachable civilian could never possess. The 
East India Company's men in power now began to 
feel that, in their dominions, there was a rising 
English influence, whose loyalty to their Queen and 
country was unimpeachable, but who might eventu- 
ally interfere with their own status ; so they 
became jealous of this influence. They made great 
efforts to elevate the Hindoo and Mahomedan, and 
to depress the prospects of their own countrymen. 
In this feeling the anti-English policy of the Indian 



THE UNCOVENANTED. 



229 



government had its origin ; and, in carrying it out, 
high places were given to Hindoos and Mahomedans 
from which the educated uncovenanted English ser- 
vant was excluded. The pretence heing justice to 
India — a flimsy pretext, when we consider that 
Hiudoo and Mahomedan governments came from 
beyond the Himalayas, as did the English from 
beyond the ocean. The English were voted as 
radical in their tendencies, dissatisfied with the 
crumbs from the civilian's table ; so it would be 
better to do without them altogether, and maintain 
a closed system more firmly than ever. This, it 
was imagined, would create a Utopia. There would 
then be only two classes in India highly agreeable 
to each other ; 1st, the Directors' civilian, sup- 
ported in great pomp (erroneously supposed to 
add to power, and not to weaken it), and, 2nd, 
the thin-blooded, meagrely-paid Hindoo. Things 
would thus be made pleasant, and would secure 
more firmly than ever all power, honour, and 
wealth to the Leadenhall Directors' nominees. This 
climax having been attained, then, the Indian Go- 
vernment had arrived at the position of an over- 
grown closely-cemented family oligarchy — blind to 
reason — insensible to circumstances. 

This change of policy towards the educated 
English uncovenanted servant had its term between 
the years 1840 and 1857, during which time no ap- 
pointments but very subordinate ones were ever 
given to free Englishmen, and those who had en- 



230 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



tered the service previously on the more liberal 
understanding, were left to languish in obscurity 
and neglect. This policy permeated the whole 
extent of the Empire, and entered into all depart- 
ments. And, as years rolled on, so did this Anti- 
English policy increase in intensity. Conscious of 
gross injustice to their countrymen, the magnates 
of India held the free English servant as a dis- 
affected one, and pandered to the Hindoo and Ma- 
homedan at the expense of England's best life- 
blood — the young and adventurous sons of the 
middle classes, who had left their homes to seek a 
field for their enterprise. Struggling in a distant 
dependency of England's crown, they found that 
they were as aliens in a foreign land. The privi- 
leged officials sneered at them, and, with a jaundiced 
demi-Hindooism, held out that they were of a dif- 
ferent caste. Thus they were curbed in their rising 
efforts in the battle of life. The events of 1857 
took the Anglo-Indian oligarchy by surprise ; but 
the English uncovenanted servants in this year 
showed their sterling qualities, and became more 
necessary than ever. I had then left India, but I 
have learned, from the published records, that the 
services of the uncovenanted were too conspicuous to 
be slurred over. Their devotion to their masters, 
and to the British crown, had brilliant exposition. 
The uncovenanted might be termed " interlopers," 
"mere adventurers," "not responsible," "not of the 
service," but it was false policy for the monopolist 



THE UXCOVENANTED. 



231 



at the outset, to let the educated Englishman in at 
all, or on any footing whatever, for his native 
" birthright" could not be stolen from him — his 
" equality" on the open field of public opinion. 

By placing the educated English gentleman of 
the uncovenanted service on the same footing as the 
native Hindoo officials, no distinction was made 
when there was a real difference. Expunging 
colour, caste, and creed, from the argument, the real 
difference consisted in constitution of body and 
mind, in intellectual and moral training, energy, and 
national loyalty. In these, the English official 
could claim to be different from the Hindoo : he 
further brought the highest attributes of these to 
the service of India, at a great personal cost to him- 
self. This cost he felt in the loss of home sym- 
pathies from friends and relatives, and in the loss of 
health by reason of the climate. These were real 
differences between native and English employes. 
Yet the Directors of the India House would listen 
to no amelioration of the condition of their country- 
men under their dominion. If sick unto death, his 
native home was wearily sought b}^ the loss of his 
all. A whole life's service went for nothing if he 
asked to see his beloved English home again. To 
attain this desire he forfeited place, pension, and all 
claims on his employers ; and, were he to remain in 
India, he remained merely to die, and lay his body 
in the stagnant grave-yards of the fetid delta of the 
Ganges ! Long service might secure him a pension 



232 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and relief from labour, but on one inexorable condi- 
tion, that his body be palsied and his restoration 
hopeless. In consequence of this equal dealing with 
unequal conditions the English uncovenanted ser- 
vant never got a pension — at least I know not a 
single instance in the parts with which I am fami- 
liar. It was otherwise with the Eurasian or Hin- 
doo officials. The climate being genial to them, 
they lived years, long. after they had obtained the 
medical certificate of " total uselessness and hopeless- 
ness of recovery," and so enjoyed their otium cum 
dignitate. It was otherwise with the Englishman : 
like the spirited horse, he died on the world's 
course, far, far away from father or mother, sister or 
brother. Such was the fate of England's mothers' 
sons who served the East India Company without 
" bond " or " covenant !" 

Confining myself to the portion of India with 
which I was best acquainted, it cannot but be ad- 
mitted that the uncovenanted Englishman bore a 
part which deserved better treatment. Notwith- 
standing the strong desire on the part of their privi- 
leged " countrymen " to depress them below a certain 
level, individual excellencies could not be restrained 
or kept out of public sight. I recollect well, shortly 
after the establishment of a well-known banking- 
house, the directors had the weakness to ape the 
great political Company by introducing the distinc- 
tion of covenanted and uncovenanted inside their 
counters. But as they had no meagre Bengal 



THE UNCQVEN ANTED. 



233 



Sepoys to support their folly, they very soon aban- 
doned the measure as unworkable. 

In the wide arena of the Indian Archipelago, the 
founder of the first successful settlement was an 
English uncovenanted servant of the Indian Govern- 
ment. This was Francis Light, founder of Prince 
of Wales Island. The abortive colonies or settle- 
ments were numerous, such as Bantam, Amboyna, 
Bencoolen, Tappanuli, Balambangan, &c. To 
Francis Light, British interests have been much 
indebted by his successful planting of a nourishing 
population, from whence British commerce has 
extended far and near. The 40,000 inhabitants he 
left behind him fully appreciated his successful 
efforts, as testified by the beautiful cenotaph raised 
to his memory : — 

4< IN MEMORY OF 
FRANCIS LIGHT, ESQ., 
WHO FIRST ESTABLISHED THIS ISLAND 
AS AN ENGLISH SETTLEMENT, 
AND WAS MANY YEARS GOVERNOR. 

BORN IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, IN ENGLAND ; 
AND DIED OCTOBER 21ST, 1794. 



" In his capacity as Governor, 
the Settlers and Natives were greatly attached to him 3 
and by his Death, had to deplore the loss of 
one who watched over their interests 
and cares as a Father." 



234 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



This is one illustrious example of force of cha- 
racter rising over the jealous barrier of monopoly 
and prejudice. Dozens of others recur to my 
memory ; one of these was Dr. Morrison, Chinese 
secretary to the East India Company's Factory at 
Canton. What name in Oriental literature stands 
higher than the name of this English uncovenanted 
servant ? From the narrow sectarian policy of the 
East India Company we would have thought that 
neither virtue nor learning were to be had out of 
their own narrow pale, yet the names of Horsburgh, 
the Hydrographer, Cary and Marshman, the Oriental 
scholars, rise to vindicate the status of the free 
Englishman. 

Confining myself to a very limited portion of the 
East India Company's territories, viz., the locality 
of the settlements in the Malay archipelago, it is 
easy to bring forward names of uncovenanted officers 
which are worthy of attention and public gratitude. 
It was Congalton who swept the Malay waters of 
the Illanuns, the most formidable of pirates.* It 
was Dunman who first gave security to households 
in the settlement of Singapore, by the raising and 
training of an efficient police force. It was Cole- 

* Hall, of the " Nemesis," was an uncovenanted servant of the East 
India Company when he effected his great feats in the first China war. 
Fortunately he at the same time belonged to a branch of the British 
navy, otherwise his services would not have availed him a jot. He 
would have died of neglect and contempt, as many others have done. 
His successor Wallage (a historical name in connection with the 
suppression of piracy in Borneo) died in harness. 



THE UNCOVENANTED. 235 

man who laid out the city of Singapore in that 
expansive and well-arranged plan admired by all 
strangers. It was Simpson who led his men in the 
rush of a forlorn hope against a notorious strong- 
hold of the pirates in Borneo. Were such men, 
who for the most part have died in harness, or have 
died of grief, or have saved themselves by quitting 
the service in disgust, " worthless Englishmen?" I 
think not. The privileged class of Indian officials 
was not maintained without cost and pains to 
their fellow-countrymen and subjects. 



CHAPTEE X. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 

Departing from the most disagreeable part of my 
task, I now come to another, viz., the nature of 
Far Eastern Governments as they were prior to the 
advent of Europeans. This subject must interest 
the inquirer, even though we have but a " glimpse." 
A tolerably correct notion may be arrived at on 
this subject, by the perusal of Malayan history. 
The histories themselves may be faulty by their 
want of dates, and their mixture of much mythical 
tradition, yet much is to be culled in respect to the 
moral and political state of the people. 

The racy abstracts from the Sijara Malayu, or 
Malayan annals published by Mr. Braddell,* in the 
" Journal of the Indian Archipelago," open an easy 
entrance to a retrospect of bygone times with their 
long extinct Governments. I select one chapter as 
being sufficient for my purpose, it being full of 
characteristic notices well suited to portray the Ear 

* A promising Oriental scholar when I had his acquaintance some 
years ago. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 



237 



East as it was, before it was overrun or affected by 
the powers of Europe. 

The splendour and power ascribed to the ancient 
Malay empire, I believe to be exaggerated by the 
native historians, and they have been too readily 
credited by Baffles and other English writers on the 
Archipelago. The emperors were but merchants, 
and the princes were but petty dealers and pirates. 
This is evident on a perusal of their histories, as 
written by native authors. Thus in the 33rd 
annal the Bindahara of Malacca (hereditary high 
steward) is said to be fortunate in trade, and in the 
19th annal it is said that " Samarluki, son of 
Kerayang Manchukwa, king of Balu Lui, in the 
country of Mangkasar (Maccassar) was sent forth by 
his father on a piratical expedition, which ranged 
from Java to Siam, and thence to ITjong Tannah 
(Point Bomania, near Singapore). At this latter 
place he engaged the Malacca fleets, and was over- 
powered. These facts are mentioned amongst many 
others, which tend to prove that trading and piracy 
were popular pursuits amongst the princes and 
magnates of the native Governments from time im- 
memorial. 

In the same annals we are informed that 
Malacca (the seat of the Malay empire, so called), 
in its highest renown under Malay princes, was 
of equal importance with Passe and Haru (the 
former on the north coast of Sumatra, the latter 
probably there also). Now at these places there 



238 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



would be the remnants of greatness, such as ruined 
mosques, pagodas, aqueducts, and other public 
works, but none are apparent. Marco Polo tra- 
versed these seas in about the year 1291, — or 172 
years prior to the period I am now writing upon. 
In his eleventh chapter he mentions the ancient 
Malay settlement of Bentan, called by him Pentan, 
whose coast was wild and uncultivated as it is even 
to this present time. Proceeding thirty miles from 
Bentan, Marco Polo adds, " You arrive at an island 
in itself a kingdom, named Malaiur (an old mode of 
spelling Mai ay u) which is likewise the name of its 
chief city (the ancient Singapore). The people are 
governed by a king, and have their own peculiar 
language. The town is large and well built. A 
considerable trade is there carried on in spices and 
drugs, with which the place abounds. Nothing 
else that requires notice presents itself." Singapore 
was the seat of the Malay empire prior to Malacca ; 
but this description of that most truthful Venetian 
does not impress us with any deep sense of its im- 
portance. The empire of Passe he does not mention 
at all, but he states that he resided five months in 
Samara (Samalanga) which is near the present 
Passe. Here the native prince was a powerful 
idolator, and he must have been a savage one, 
as Marco had to fortify his 2,000 men to guard 
them against mischief. At the time Marco Polo 
passed through the straits of Malacca, the town of 
that name — if it then had any existence — must 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 



239 



have been a place of no note ; for he must have 
passed close by it, and could not have avoided 
seeing it. But he makes no mention of it. The 
seat of the Malay capital had not then been re- 
moved from Singapore. Further, Marco Polo does 
not notice any other city, town, or country within 
the borders of the Malay peninsula. In the year 
1511, Malacca, in all its glory, fell before a small 
fleet of Portuguese manned by Europeans and 
Indians. The seats of Malayan Governments were 
at best mere entrejjots of trade. The Malay penin- 
sula, though covered with luxuriant forest, is, con- 
trary to general opinion, very barren, and could not 
support a large population. The staple, rice, is 
cultivated in small patches, and with difficulty. 
Consequently Malacca, Singapore, and Bentan have 
always been dependent upon Java, Siam, and Bengal 
for the food of their populations ; and the principal 
portion of the populations have been confined to 
towns, supported by foreign trade, or by piracy. 
The interior populations have always been very in- 
considerable. 

With these general remarks I extract the thirty- 
third annal of the Sijara Malayu.* 

" Thirty -third Annal. 

"The Bindahara Sri Maharaja had a daughter 
named Tun Fatimah, of most excellent conduct, 
and exceeding beauty ; but Tun Hasan, the Tomun- 

* "Jour. Ind. Arch.," vol. vi., p. 46. 



240 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



gong, was of equal beauty and excellence ; they 
were celebrated in song. Tun Fatimah was be- 
trothed to Tun AH, son of Sri Nara de Rajah. 
When the time arrived for the ceremonies of 
marriage to be performed, the Rajah of Barah was 
invited to the Bindahara's house, and saw Tun 
Fatimah. The Rajah of Barah was uncle of Sultan 
Mahmed, and brother of Sultan Alaoodin, the de- 
ceased king, and when he saw the Bindahara's 
daughter, he asked if the king had seen her ? The 
Bindahara answered, 'No.' Then the Rajah of 
Barah advised him not to marry his daughter to 
a person of low rank, but to wait and let the king 
see her, as, at that time, Malacca was without a 
queen, the Permeisuri of Pakang being dead, and 
it is the custom, under these circumstances, for the 
daughter of the Bindahara to become queen. The 
Bindahara replied : ' I am a low person. It is 
proper for me to mix with low people,' so he deter- 
mined to carry out his project of marrying Tun 
Fatimah to Tun Ali. 

" At the proper time the king was invited to the 
house of the Bindahara, that his daughter might 
be presented to him previous to her marriage. 
The king arrived and the marriage procession of 
Tun Ali also came. When the king saw Tun 
Fatimah, he was astonished at her beauty, and 
instantly conceived a passion for her, and at the 
same time was enraged at her father ; saying to 
himself, ' What an old wretch that Pa Mutaheir is, 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 "YEARS AGO. 241 



not to show me his daughter, who is so beautiful !' 
The ceremony proceeded, and the couple were 
married : afterwards the king went to the palace, 
but could not eat from love-sickness. He now 
sought opportunity against the Bindahara.* In 
due time Tun Fatimah presented her husband Tun 
Ali with a daughter named Tun Trang. 

H There was a Kling, Eajah Mandlier, who re- 
sided at Malacca, and became shah bandar (port- 
master) ; this Kling was very rich ; no one could 
compare with him in Malacca. One day the Binda- 
hara asked him how much gold he had, and he 
answered 'Five Bahras,' on which the Bindahara said, 
• Oh, if that is the case, I have a Bahra more than 
you.' The Bindahara was very fortunate in trade: 
he never lost. Sometimes he would call his children, 
grandchildren, &c, and give them each a handful 
of gold to play with. When they went out to hunt, 
if they were unsuccessful on their return, they 
would stop at the Bindahara' s cattle-farm, and, 
killing each one a buffalo, would send a quarter to 
the Bindahara, who, on inquiring from whence the 
meat came, would be informed of the behaviour of 
his young kinsmen ; and sometimes he used to say, 
' Oh, these lads go a-hunting, and when they get 
nothing in the forest, they take to hunting my 
buffaloes !' When his slaves came into town dressed 
up in silk and muslin, the Bindahara would invite 

* Tropical lasciviousness disappointed, and hatred beginning to burn. 

R 



242 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



them into his hall and ask who they were ; on which 
they would inform him, — ' I am so-and-so, the slave 
of the Bindahara, and son of so-and-so.' They 
were so numerous that he did not know them. One 
day in the palace, when waiting the appearance of 
the king, Rajah Mandlier addressed the Bindahara, 
and was repulsed by him for want of knowledge 
of etiquette, in attempting to salute him in that 
place before he had himself paid his respects 
to his majesty : the Kling slunk back at this 
rebuke. 

" There was in Malacca a Kling merchant ex- 
tremely rich, named Ali Menu Nayen.* All the 
young nobles visited him, and he was in the habit 
of giving them presents ; but Tun Hasan, the 
Tomungong, did not visit him. He therefore, one 
day, asked Tun Hasan if he would not come to his 
house, that he might present him with something, 
as he did to all the other young nobles? Tun 
Hasan answered, 'Nayen, am I a base-born slave 
that you wish to bestow charity upon me ? If I 
was of a different descent ' (less nobly born) 1 it might 
be as you propose.' When the young men were 
short of money they sometimes represented to Tun 
Hasan, the Tomungong, that the market-place was 
not regular, some of the shops jutting out, and that 
if the king passed that way he would be displeased ; 
on this account they begged that he would grant 

* The natives of Hindostan have always had great influence in 
Malay countries. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 



243 



them authority to see that the line was straightened. 
Armed with authority, they would go to the 
market and levy contributions on the people 
under pain of having their shops pulled down, in 
order to make them straight.* 

" There was a Kling named Nina Sura Dewan, 
who was the chief merchant in Malacca ; he had a 
difference with the Rajah Mandlier, and they went 
to the Bindahara to settle the matter. It being 
late in the day, the Bindahara desired them to re- 
turn in the morning. That night Nina Sura Dewan 
thought to himself that he ought to go and see 
the Bindahara, and give a present, as Rajah Mandlier 
was a very rich man, and if he (i. e. Rajah Mandlier) 
makes a present to the Bindahara I shall certainly 
lose my case. Accordingly Nina Sura went to the 
Bindahara, and gave him ten cutties of gold (about 
thirteen pounds), to buy betel with.y There was a 
Kling man, a relation of Nina Sura Dewan, named 
Kitool, who owed one cutty of gold to Rajah Mand- 
lier. This Kitool went that night to Rajah Mand- 
lier and informed him that Nina Sura had been 
with the Bindahara and presented him with ten 
cutties of gold, and that he was now plotting with 
the Bindahara to kill him (Rajah Mandlier.)J In 
return for this information the debt of one cutty of 
gold due to Rajah Mandlier was cancelled, and 

* How would the shopkeepers of Cornhill stand this usage ? 

t Tropical covetousness — the father of much perfidy and injustice. 

% Tropical treachery. 



244 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



Kitool took his departure. Rajah Mandlier collected 
a quantity of jewels and fine clothes, and taking 
a bahra of gold, went and presented these things to 
the Lacksamana, and informed him that he knew 
the Bindahara meditated treason, and that he had 
already in his house a throne and regalia prepared, 
and that he intended to usurp the sovereignty.* 
The Lacksamana informed the King, who was glad 
of an opportunity to wreak his vengeance against 
the Bindahara, on account of his not having given 
him Tun Fatimah in marriage, and he at once ordered 
the Bindahara to be put to death by Tun Sura, and 
Tun Indra Sakara.f When these two, with a body 
of attendants, arrived at the Bindhara's house, they 
found all his friends in arms to resist the execution 
of the sentence of the King ; but they were ordered 
by the Bindahara to go home and lay down their 
arms, so that they might not commit treason by 
resisting the commands of the King. They went 
away, and the Bindahara, Sri Maharaja with Sri 
Nara de Rajah, Tun Hasan, Tomungong and Tun 
Ali, the husband of Tun Fatimah, were put to 
death by the executioners of the King. J 

" There was also a son of Sri Nara de Rajah, named 
Tun Hamza, who was wounded by Miasamy, a 
Bengalee ; but, on orders coming from the palace to 

* Tropical slander, so easily credited. 

t A tropical prince's hatred glows till appeased. 

X An instance of tropical lasciviousness, covetousness, injustice, 
perfidy, malice, and revenge, ending in a bloody destruction of innocent 
victims. Have we not direful parallels of modern dates ? 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 



245 



spare one to keep up the lineage, Tun Hamza was 
preserved and taken care of till he recovered. He 
afterwards became a great favourite of the King. 
After the Bindahara and Tun Ali were killed, Tun 
Fatimah was taken to the palace and shortly after 
married by the King.* All the property of the 
deceased Bindahara was confiscated, and on examin- 
ing it, none of those insignia of royalty spoken of 
by Bajah Mandlier were found. 

" This induced the Bajah to make fresh inquiries 
into the business, and the treachery of Bajah Mand- 
lier and Kitool was fully discovered. The King 
having by this time repented of his cruelty to the 
family of the Bindahara, ordered Bajah Mandlier to 
be put to death, and his house to be razed to the 
ground. As for Kitool, he and his whole family\ 
were impaled, and his house rooted up and thrown 
into the sea. The Lacksamana was punished for 
his share in the transaction. J 

" Peduka Tuam, son of Peduka Bajah, was made 
Bindahara. He was very old and infirm, and stren- 
uously opposed his being appointed, as he was 
unfit for duty. But the King insisted, and when 
his presence was required at the palace, His Majesty 
sent and had him carried and laid down iu his place. 
From this he acquired the name of the Bindahara 
Lobuk Batu. The Bindahara had a very numerous 

* Unhallowed desires accomplished. 

t Oriental despotism is blind to justice or compassion in the torture 
of its victims. 

% He only did his duty, — why the punishment ? 



246 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

family, all born of one mother,* and at that time 
his children's grandchildren and great-grandchildren 
amounted to seventy-seven persons. 

" Tun Fatimah was married by the King, and be- 
came Queen of Malacca, but although the King was 
distractedly fond of her, she refused to return his 
love, remained dejected and sad, with the recollec- 
tion of her father and husband murdered by the 
King, who now in vain sought her love. Finding 
all his attempts to that end in vain, Sultan 
Mahmud became melancholy ; he now deeply re- 
pented having put to death the Bindahara and his 
relatives,! and the recollection of this deed affected 
him so much that he at last abdicated in favour of 
his son, Rajah Ahmed, and retired to Kayu Aru in 
the interior of Malacca, accompanied by Sang Sura 
alone. While there, he kept himself retired from 
all society. 

" The new King Ahmed had no respect or regard 
for the chiefs and principal men of the land, but 
gave himself up to the society of young favourites, 
who were allowed to be extremely insolent, and 
took advantage of their position as royal favourites, 
greatly to the disgust of the more respectable body 
of the nobles." J Tun Fatimah was called the great 
queen (Rajah perampuan besar) ; but whenever she 

* A very remarkable circumstance in the Far East, 
f This story reminds one of David and the wife of the murdered 
Uriah the Hittite. 

% Despotism has its vagaries 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS 400 YEARS AGO. 



247 



became enceinte, she caused abortion. The Sultan 
Mahmud remonstrated, and she said, ' What use is 
there in my getting a son, as you have already a 
successor on the throne ?' On this Sultan Mahmud 
promised, that if she gave birth to a son, she should 
succeed to the throne, and the queen from that time 
allowed her children to live. The first was a 
daughter, named Rajah Putih, followed by another, 
also a daughter, named Khadijah. Sultan Mahmud 
was at this time deeply engaged with the Makdum 
Saderjahan in the study of Sofyism." 

The above extract will give a glimpse of what 
Tar Eastern governments were shortly prior to the 
coming of the European. Do such governments 
deserve the support of mankind ? or is a miserable 
bloody despotism an august thing to be renovated 
and admired ? They were rotten to their very core 
— so fell on the first attack. 



CHAPTER XL 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 

A chapter giving a glimpse of native govern- 
ments as they are will not, I hope, prove unaccept- 
able to the reader. Fortunately we have the 
written record of a native of intelligence, and whose 
testimony is unquestionable. A glimpse will show 
how far native governments have advanced or re- 
trogressed. The record is by Abdulla bin Abdul- 
kader. so often quoted in this book, which I have 
translated from his Malay manuscript. From what 
I personally know of the Malay Governments of 
Perak, Salangore, Pahang and Keddah, the general 
tenor of Abdulla' s remarks are correct. 

" Concluding Reflections in Abdulla's Auto- 
biography. 

" As I had now completed my personal history, 
I sat pondering, and the reflection crossed my mind, 
that I was now forty-six years of age, and that 
during this span of life I had been witness to num- 
berless great events and mutations in this world. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 249 



I had also experience of customs, and states of 
things that had not even been seen or heard of 
by my ancestors. All these had been seen by 
me. Out of these ponderings many ideas came 
pressing on my mind, but amongst them I was 
most oppressed with the thoughts of the condition 
of the Malays. For their interests have ever 
been the nearest to my heart. But when I consi- 
dered their condition, manners, and conduct, as well 
as their habits, as observed from my infancy up to 
my present age, and when I reflected upon them, 
I was forced to the conclusion that, as regards the 
Malayan race, their foolishness increases with their 
age. And when I endeavoured to search out the 
cause of this, there appeared amongst many reasons 
one great cause above all — to wit — their unhappy 
condition is owing to the injustice and oppression of 
their own princes: they overwhelm their subjects. 
Truly the hearts of their subjects are like unto 
ground, whose fertility is abstracted, which prevents 
them from initiating a single good work of any 
account, whether in literature, science, or practice; 
but they vegetate like trees in the midst of a forest, 
which fall by every blast. Tis thus they fall. 
Moreover it is their nature to be under the govern- 
ment of strange peoples : they are like small fishes, 
which are food merely for the larger.^ 

* Abdulla's expansive education beyond his countrymen is here 
apparent. He aspires to native independence of European control. 
He mistakes cause for effect ; he forgets that princes emanate from, and 



250 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



"Now as I have spoken of the injustice and 
oppression of the governments of native princes, 
I must explain that these have their origin in a 
fixed sentiment on their part, which tends to debase 
their subjects, and which prompts them to treat them 
as brute beasts. Thus it happens when a subject 
meets a prince, he must sit on the ground whether 
it be clean or filthy. Also should a prince covet the 
daughter of a subject, or the betrothed of a subject, 
or any property or valuable of a subject, he appro- 
priates them at once, without the slightest ques- 
tion, trouble or fear. Besides, Malay princes have 
neither the slightest care nor consideration for their 
subjects. Again, in delivering judgment in the 
cause of a subject, they are ruled solely by their 
sensual desires ; those whom they love they uphold, 
and those whom they hate they depress. Further, 
however wicked or oppressive may be their sons, 
however domineering they may be over their people 
and country, they wink at their misdoings. They 
maintain scores and hundreds of slaves who despoil 
the common people, who kill men as they would kill 
insects. Their princes walk not with the respect- 
able of the community, but they seek out com- 
panions of their own stamp. Now the whole of 
this arises from the want of science and training, in 

are moulded by, the people. They are the flowers from the stalk. If 
the stalk be virtuous and vigorous, so will the princely flowers be. If 
the stalk be demoralized and vicious, the princely flowers are of the 
same nature. School the people, and their princes and priests must be 
virtuous. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 251 



themselves or their people; so when intelligent 
measures are called for, they can find no tools for 
the work.* Great is the wonder and astonishment 
of mankind at their doings — the effects of their in- 
ternal dissensions — by means of which their name 
becomes hateful amongst all other nations. 

Secondly, there is not the slightest attempt on 
the part of Malay princes to educate their children 
during their youth ; but they abandon them to their 
own will, and to follow their own pleasure. They 
do not attend to their instruction either in polite- 
ness, propriety, elegance, modesty, science, arts, 
or anything else ; but, if the child be a little son, 
they will look out for a little girl as a play-fellow for 
him ; and when he has grown big, they will find a 
woman to be as a concubine to him.* They will 
now give him a kris, and the natives will give 
him honour, because he is a prince ; and then he just 
does as he likes with his subjects, who are so afraid 
of him that they dare not say a word to him. And 
his father vies with him in gambling and cockfight- 
ing. If he have not money, he gets it ; and if the 
father be an opium-smoker, so will the son be, and so 
it turns out that the older he grows he dives the 
more into debauchery. 'Tis now only that his 
father begins to check him. But ten fathers would 

* Abbulla does not seem to be sensible of the powerful effects of 
clima.te in modelling man's mind and constitution, yet he is sensible of 
the prostration of his countrymen. 

f Parental system of the north and south ! 



252 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



not now restrain him. At this period of his life he 
sets in flame the whole country, with its people, by 
the fire of his wickedness.* As the Malay proverb 
goes c Fire, as it falls, should be quenched ; for, if 
abroad, nothing can prevail against it/ or 6 A small 
fire is a friend, but a big one an enemy.' 

" Again, many Malay countries^ provinces, and 
towns are laid waste by reason of the many sons of 
princes and slaves of princes. Further, the manners, 
customs, and ways of the Malays are different from 
all other races on this earth ; this I state from my 
personal knowledge, as well as from hearsay, and 
also from what I have learnt of other races in as far 
as regards the customs of the "white people, or the 
Klings, Arabs, Chinese, and such like. If the 
princes of these nations be covetous, it is to covet 
knowledge, understanding, and capacity ; with them 
it is pleasurable for the parents to teach their 
children, and to separate them far from folly, or the 
very name of evil. This is done that the ways of 
goodness may be surely followed by all their sub- 
jects, and that they may be as an example to all 
their people. 

" I wonder to myself how these Malay princes, 
having no understanding, can profess to judge their 
people; or how, sitting themselves in wickedness, 
they can presume to order their subjects to be good, 
or to do good ? Is this not a great wonder to think 

* Unconstrained despotic power is cured by nature's provisions : it is 
weakened by the hatred of the multitude. 



i 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THE PRESENT TIME. 253 



that Malay princes cannot restrain their sons, leav- 
ing them to themselves, to disorder society, yet 
would they themselves expect to command their 
people ? Indeed, the sons of Malay princes are as 
wicked fierce tigers, who, on the death of the father, 
rush forth and destroy Grod's creatures.* 

" Now, of what use is a fence ? Is it not to keep 
the plants safe from destruction ? But if a fence 
itself destroys the plants, what is their condition ? 
So God created princes to take care of the people, 
and to restrain their wickedness ; but when these 
same princes destroy the people, what comes of it ? . 
Destruction falls on prince and people.f 

" Moreover, all people under the government of 
Malay princes dare not lift up their heads, or enjoy 
themselves ; nor dare they initiate any great under- 
taking, because all these are forbidden and tabooed 
for fear of their princes. It is forbidden to build a 
house of stone, or even a fine-looking wooden one. 
It is forbidden to build a fine boat, or even a beauti- 
ful model of one. It is forbidden to clothe in certain 
dresses. It is forbidden to carry an umbrella, or to 
wear shoes. Further, there is danger in your 
possessing any valuables in your house ; it is only 
allowable for princes to possess these, not for common 

* What trust there is in power and good government of the English. 
Here, in a Malay country, Abdulla's life would not have been safe for 
one hour. 

f Hence the absorption of tropical governments by the energetic, 
brave, and virtuous northmen, who retain the same till they become 
enervated or disjoined from the parent stock. 



254 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



people. Thus it is that the people — especially the 
rich — live in constant terror ; and even should you 
lose your most valued household goods, you are for- 
tunate if the mischief ends there, and not with the 
loss of your life also. They leave no way untried to 
punish you, or to compass your destruction. Again, 
if a prince wants anything from you, if you do 
not give it freely, your fault will be great, and 
should he lose it, think not of asking a return. 
And if you are blessed with a good-looking 
daughter, this is poison of the deadliest venom in 
Malay countries, for certainly your prince will take 
her as a concubine. If you present her, he will take 
her ; but if you do not present her to him, he will 
have her notwithstanding. There is nothing that fires 
the breasts of God's creatures more than this.* And 
it often happens with men of strong affections that 
they cannot bereave themselves of their daughters ; 
then does the prince murder the parents, and ravish 
the child. Such doings from their very foundation 
are contrary to the law of God and his prophets ; 
they are also detested by mankind in this world. 
They are done at the instigation of a great being, 
who delights in them, to wit — the Devil ; but the 

* This sentence developes the cause of the frequent stabbing of 
Europeans in Malay villages. The native princes take as they lust, 
and the Malays presume that Europeans act in like manner. The fact of 
speaking to a woman, or a mere jest with one, which might not go 
further, under the above circumstances, enrages the father beyond 
endurance, and an attack is immediately made. The prince is beyond 
their attack : custom protects him. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 255 

Devil is at war with Grod Almighty, and so surely 
will the Devil and his followers come to destruction. 

" Moreover, there is another subject regarding 
the Malays : they will not change the customs of 
their ancestors, either in the arts or in the sciences, 
and it is forbidden to innovate in any way. They 
have the utmost aversion to set aside old customs, 
however absurd. Not that they have religion to 
support them in this, nor does sense come out of it, 
but merely an accumulation of foolishness — a subject 
for the derision of other races. If by remaining so, 
no sin came of it ; or if from their actions, deserts of 
a kindred nature did not emanate, it would be well ; 
but, with stubborn hearts, they continue in then* 
foolish habits as they have received them from pre- 
ceding generations. This is truly absurd. Now, if it 
be reckoned correct to follow the customs of our fore- 
fathers of old, will it not also be correct that our 
grandchildren should follow ours ? Then, can you 
take the credit to yourselves of being good men, 
just respecters of the law, perfect in knowledge, the 
various accomplishments, and such like ? Well, even 
to your conceptions you dare not by any means take 
such credit ; but you say we are content as we are, 
and so will remain in the position in which fate 
has placed us. Now, I have learned in the history 
of England that the inhabitants of that country 
were ten times more squalid than you are, even in 
your present state. They wore the skins of beasts — 
they lived in huts built of mud — and they painted 



256 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



their hands and feet blue ; their hair remained 
unshorn, and, by way of propitiation, they made 
human sacrifices to their idols. Now, from such a 
state as this they emerged in the course of time. 
Their descendants cast aside such foolish customs, 
and created new ones, and they have attained to the 
eminence in which you now see them. Now as to 
this eminence in a nation being foolish or wise, de- 
cide that for yourselves ; and ask yourselves, is the 
position of the English of these modern times 
eminent, or is it abased? Then if you still hold 
that your present customs are good, and that you 
will not cast them aside, on this principle might 
the English revert to the condition above described. 
Let them throw off their clothes of the present 
fashion, let them cover themselves with the skins of 
wild animals, and paint their hands and feet with 
blue, destroy their modern-built houses, and let 
them live in houses of mud. Further, let them 
abolish their modern steam -machinery, and taking 
to galleys, canoes, and sampans, pitch their com- 
passes overboard, and so confine their voyages to the 
sea-shores or to the rivers. 

" Again, may I ask you, do you desire to remain 
in your squalor, so that this may descend as an 
inheritance to your posterity till the world's end ? 
And dare you maintain that your present condition 
is such as to be a good inheritance, even for the 
generations of your grandchildren, whereby they 
may do just as yourselves ? Now, when I appeal to 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 257 



your good sense, you cannot by any means maintain 
the above, for you are conscious that it is the want 
of the ivill that makes you adhere to the wicked 
customs of your ancestors ; and the real state of 
your mind is, that it would please you well could 
your posterity attain to learning, wealth, and good- 
ness. # But if in your era you plant squalid and 
lazy seed, how then can learning and activity be 
produced ? Everything returns to the nature of its 
source. If the seed be good, it will shoot out, and 
so will bad seed also. 

" Moreover, if the condition of mankind be go- 
verned by God in his complete perfection — viz., in his 
wisdom, omniscience, and free-will — then is it not 
right that we should thirst after wisdom and know- 
ledge, in order that we may be able to choose those 
things which emanate from wisdom, and follow 
them, and that we may be able to discern wicked- 
ness, and thrust it far from us ? Now as to these 
things the Malays by no means observe them other- 
wise than to abase wisdom and understanding, and 
so follow their uncontrolled passions and the cus- 
toms of their ancestors ; these only they follow 
invariably. And when we inquire of them to this 
effect : ' Sirs, do you live in wretchedness ? then why 
not learn good, and thirst after understanding?' 

* AMulla forgets the climate. It is the climate which is a barrier 
to all these good desires. The body has not strength to support good 
intentions. Ten or twenty years reduces even the active European body 
to a state of lethargy. 

S 



258 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

they will answer, 6 What can we do ? We are 
poor people, and have great difficulty in even gain- 
ing our bread.' This is the invariable answer. 
As to their poverty — no such thing : it is their 
mind that is poor. Thus they are stuck fast in their 
own wretchedness. And how comes the weakness 
of their force of mind but from want of understand- 
ing, and want of understanding arises from a dislike 
to study. Now, as to the above, viz., their want 
of thirst for learning or knowledge, what are the 
various causes ? First, because their ancestors did 
not so, they will not. Second, because their princes 
and nobles, &c, don't do so, they won't. Thirdly, 
because they are ashamed of every one who adopts 
new habits. This is the source of their clinging to 
old customs, and neglecting native skill or science. 
This is the main cause of their present condition.* 
Diligent in good, as diligent in evil. Rising, but 
falling the more. Sharp, but the more to be blunted. 
Tried against the sharpening- stone, even here of no 
effect. In this way is their mind corroded with the 
rust of uselessness. On every side, to the very last, 
they become like unto earth, trodden over by all 
other nations. f , 

" Moreover, I am struck to my inmost soul when 
I behold the condition and the habits of the Malays — 

* Abdulla again forgets the enervating nature of his native climate : 
in looking at the effects, he forgets the cause. 

f There is a touching pathos here in the trained native mind, be- 
holding the hopeless prostration of his countrymen's condition. Know- 
ledge always aspires. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 259 



avoided by all other races in this world. The other 
nations of mankind do not ignore their native 
tongues by neglecting to uphold schools for their 
study. Who other than Malays do this ? And 
forsooth, the reasonof this is because their ancestors 
were not accustomed to learn their own language. 
So, to this very day, they are averse to learning. 
It is astonishing that they daily speak Malay, and 
that they use Malay in all their wants ; they send 
letters from one country to another in Malay, still 
they will not learn the language ; so that one in a 
hundred only knows anything about their literature. 
If it happens so once, it is not by earnest inquiry or 
learning, but by mere mimicry in seeing other 
people. As these do, so they follow. If people 
ask the meaning of a term, whence derived, and 
the cause of its being used in such a place, they 
are bewildered, and are not able to reply by reason 
of their ignorance. They can mimic only. Now, 
is it right that thousands of Malays, now living, 
neither know how to read, write, nor cipher, 
and are thus the laughing-stocks of other races? 
Thus do men live on the Malay, both by weight 
and by measure. He cannot vie with them in 
the profession of writing and composing, or such 
like. 

" Moreover, I have heard of numerous races in 
this world that have risen to power, wealth, and 
civilization by their accomplishments in reading and 
writing, as well as by their proficiency in their own 

s 2 



260 LTFE IN THE EAR EAST. 

language, and their cultivating the same — to wit, 
the Arabs, the white people (i.e., the English), 
the Chinese, and the Hindoos. All these honour 
their own tongues, and daily spread them abroad, 
adding thereto and improving and softening them 
down to these modern times. For in truth it is 
language that makes mankind intelligent and emi- 
nent in the arts and sciences, whereby they intro- 
duce appliances to elevate their positions, and to 
teach others how to do likewise. And these same 
attributes were implanted by God so as to develop 
the ingenuity hidden in man's mind. Now it fol- 
lows that as a race is great, so must its language be 
great. For all the affairs of the world, and of the 
world to come, language is needed, such as the 
giving of names to everything ; this is done by 
means of language, which is also requisite to secure 
a livelihood. Indeed, from language comes great 
riches, power, and honour to mankind. All these 
come from language.* Now, seeing that language 
is of such great importance to mankind in this 
world, and in that which is to come, is it right 
that you should despise it ? Again I ask as to your 
ancestors, had they competent knowledge ? And 
would you like to see your progeny in the condition 
I have described ? I know well that you will say 

* Abdulla was a pedagogue. He is too much given to mistake effect 
for cause. Refined language can only emanate from a refined and 
civilized people. It expands according to their wants and illimitable 
artificial requirements. 



MALAY GOVERNMENTS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. 261 

' No.' How great were their sins for forsaking 
things which were honourable and useful ! 

" Again let us consider the knowledge, under- 
standing, and civilization of which our ancestors 
were ignorant. Is it wrong that these should be 
known to posterity ? Now, let it be admitted that 
our ancestors were illustrious — filled with wisdom 
and goodness — but that their posterity are debased 
and ignorant. Is this as it should be, or is it 
shameful ? If a tiger's cub were to become a cat, 
or a kitten to become a tiger, would this not be a 
great wonder ? So it is with mankind. It is only 
by much prayer and self-examination that we can ob- 
tain blessedness. This is the primary light by which 
I perceive your inclinations and opinions — to wit, 
your contentment with your condition; this is the 
cause of your carelessness and your indifference to 
knowledge — to a single iota of wisdom or grace. 
Your idea is that of a frog sitting under a jar, its idea 
being that the top of the jar is the sky. But in your 
case very great is the wickedness of such an idea ; for 
you are aware of your own deficiencies and foolish- 
ness, but, because of the fear of interfering with 
the customs of your ancestors, you still grovel in 
your laziness. And how true it is that you have 
beheld much new knowledge coming forth, and 
many things that are wonderful, and you have 
beheld men's rapid rise and progress to eminent 



262 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



positions, yet even then yon will not be induced to 
throw off the garments of sloth.* 

" In conclusion, may I ask, if you are sensible of 
your ignorance and stupidity, when is the time 
to learn ? It is during your youth and early 
years that you can make education of permanent 
benefit. When the tree is young, many are its 
shoots, leaves, and boughs ; but when old, its leaves 
and boughs are dry and brittle. It is so with man- 
kind. When young, man is quick at learning, for 
this purpose — that, when old, he may make use of 
it. But this is the picture of you, oh, Malays ! 
you take neither trouble nor anxiety about your 
offspring, but you allow them to do as they like, 
whether it be in amusements, wickedness, or 
wallowing in the mud. Though the world moves 
on, they remain in the same predicament. Now 
in my opinion this is not the children's fault, for in 
this they only ape their fathers. Their fathers are 
born in years bygone, but are yet young at learn- 
ing ; and thus it ends. Like unto the poisonous 
tree, he that eats the fruit thereof falls sick, and so 
comes grief from low desires and a falling away 
from estimable things. Oh, I trust ye will possibly 
take a lesson and counsel from what I have said." 



* Literally, bed-clothes (silimut). 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE MYSTERY. 

I once had a Hindoo krannee called Pur boo — not that 
Purboo was his proper name, but that he was known 
under this soubriquet. His name was one of those 
unpronounceable philological phenomena, that no one 
cared to encounter the exercise necessary to address 
him as he ought to have been. Purboo did all the 
writing necessary in a considerable native establish- 
ment, and prided himself considerably on his Hindoo 
learning. He was deep in the knowledge of the 
manners and customs of his countrymen, their 
peculiar prejudices and antipathies, their pride of 
caste, their hatred of labour, their love of money, 
their strength of purpose at doing nothing, their 
immoveable power in suffering unavoidable trials 
and pains, their agility and spasmodic energy in 
shirking danger w^hen that was avoidable, their 
callousness to other's misfortunes, their vanitv and 
openness to flattery, their addiction to bribery, their 
want of moral courage, their subtilty, and want of 
candour, their faithfulness to a good paymaster, 



264 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



their easy exchange of affection to a better pay- 
master, their love of secret excitements in lust, 
hatred, and revenge, their mutual distrust, their 
love of scandal, their temperance in eating and 
drinking, their cold-heartedness, their punctuality 
and early habits, and their sensual depravity — their 
many qualities, both good and bad, which make 
them good mercenaries to a rising cause, bad hold- 
fasts to a failing one. 

I was one day sitting in one of those idle, lazy 
moods which come upon one often — a mood which, 
having been fifteen years in the torrid zone, courted 
such listless amusement as involved no movement 
either of hand, body, or legs. I was sitting in my 
wicker arm-chair when Purboo presented himself 
with certain papers for me to sign. The papers con- 
cerned one of his countrymen, and I was thus led 
to the following conversation : — " Well, Purboo, 
your countrymen are very numerous, amounting to 
hundreds of millions ; how many classes or castes 
are they divided into ?" " Oh, Sar" said he, 
"plenty caste; I can't tell how many." "But 
think over the subject, and tell me how many." 
Purboo went to his desk and wrote out with great 
despatch a list of seventy-two different classes or 
castes in India. In doing so it was evident that he 
did not confine his list to the four general castes, 
but that he had other ideas on the subject, which 
were new to me. On his reading over his list I 
found that, besides Eajpoots and Brahmins, there 



THE MYSTERY. 



265 



were Parsees, Portuguese, Mussulmen, and Pariahs. 
In fact, each race or community Purboo called a 
caste, and he made out a numerous list of them. 
Looking at his list on this principle, it was readily 
discovered that it was a very incomplete one, and 
that it might have been doubled by including 
the Nagas, the Tudas, the Ghoorkas, and many 
other tribes unknown to him, he being a native of 
Bombay. " Well," said I to Purboo, " how do these 
seventy-two castes manage to live in the same 
country ?" He replied, " They can be friends to talk, 
but they cannot eat with each other." I said, " Do 
you mean that members of none of these castes 
could dine together ?" He replied, " Very few, Sar, 
because they would lose caste, and their relatives 
would turn them out of doors." Then said I, 
" Purboo, you are not a nation, but a system of 
separate tribes, having no sympathies in common ; 
and it is no wonder that you have come under the 
rule of us English." " Yes, Sar" replied Purboo. 
" Englishman very good. Suppose black man dont 
obey him, he lick him ; and suppose black man do 
obey, he very good paymaster." Such were the 
elevated sentiments of Purboo ; but his information 
had high imports. His private sentiments, how- 
ever, might have been very different to those enun- 
ciated. 

This theme so happily illustrated by Purboo 
leads us to take a glimpse at European governments 
in the East, and particularly that of my own 



266 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



country, as administered by the Honourable East 
India Company. I am perfectly well aware that a 
man is but an atom in human existence, and that, 
his mind being bounded by the narrow limits of 
personal observation, he can only partially grasp 
what comes home to his understanding. His views 
are swayed by one circumstance, directed by another 
— it may be misdirected and contorted ; but if his 
purpose be honest, and his pursuit the good of 
his fellows, atom as he may be, he is justified in 
attempting to catch a glimpse of so large a subject, 
even though it be momentary and imperfect. In 
viewing this subject, I must do so from my own 
stand-point, and my views may appear erroneous to 
many — absurd to not a few. We see from our own 
earth, and not from another's universe. 

In order that I might have the kind sympathy of 
the reader, I have solicited him to peruse the little 
sketches in my first volume, and to glance at the 
dryer matter in my second. I would ask him now 
to ponder over the peculiar phases of tropical life, 
to consider the opponent social systems, currents of 
thought, and natural tendencies ; then, he who has 
never been out of happy England will begin to 
surmise that English ideas, manly and virtuous as 
they be — are not appreciated by all races in this 
world; nay, further, that there is an antagonism 
which is hardly to be subdued or even mitigated. I 
would further ask my reader to consider me separated 
— never to return — from the regions on which I 



THE MYSTEEY. 



267 



now write, and that the sentiments expressed in 
this chapter are the result of observations during 
my wanderings over many parts of the old world 
amongst despotic as well as popular governments. 
If the reader's fortune has led him on the same 
track, and amongst the same fields of observation, 
he will then agree with me that an all-seeing and 
beneficent Providence has moulded the minds of 
men to the peculiar circumstances in which they 
have been placed. The savage Samang in the 
wilds of the Malay peninsula, the Bedouin of the 
deserts of Arabia, and the Bosjesman of South Africa 
have all one nature, and that nature gives them an 
overpowering love for unrestricted freedom, for 
which they would encounter privations, hunger, 
thirst, and death itself. These people are the sub- 
strata of Asiatic and African humanity. The 
domesticated weaver of Manchester, the laborious 
pitman of Durham, the monotonous file-cutter of 
Sheffield, have not another nature ; but their minds 
are moulded to dull routine, their bodies are recon- 
ciled to continuous toil. Their liberty, one would 
think, had been forgotten. These are the substrata 
of English humanity — these are the enduring bases 
of England's grandeur and power. While the 
savages above mentioned are mere mud props to 
mushroom communities, these humble Englishmen 
are the iron pedestal of an almost universal influence. 
The humble Englishman looks on the sordid state 
of the free savage with a pity most profound. He 



268 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



pays his pennies and his twopences to the mis- 
sionary-box to do these savages good. His little 
children may want their cakes and lollipops that he 
may indulge his benign sentiments ; yet the objects 
of his pity would sooner court death — would abandon 
father and mother, sister and brother, rather than 
be as that humble Englishman ! Each judges from 
his own stand-point. Each judges by his own cir- 
cumscribed experiences. The mind of each is 
moulded to his respective condition. 

These are trifling things, yet, in my humble 
judgment, from these little germs of human sen- 
timent grow out the mutations of races on this 
earth. No nation respects another sufficiently. To 
be ignorant of, is to despise. But, whatever status 
a nation may possess, it must originate in labour. 
Labour creates the means for trading : it builds 
ships, it weaves clothes, and it extracts iron from 
the earth. Intelligence puts these into profitable 
channels. When there is no steady labour in a 
tribe or nation, that tribe or nation is capable of 
no expansion ; its existence is fragile, its course 
is short. The parents of such tribes and nations 
sell their children to slavery, their women to con- 
cubinage. They vegetate only; and, when they 
come in close contact with more energetic tribes, 
they decrease and die out. But a nation may 
even be laborious, yet, if not directed in its efforts 
by educated intelligence, it must eventually suc- 
cumb to a conqueror. 



THE MYSTERY. 



269 



On looking over a chronological map of past 
history, it will be seen that nations have risen 
here, and fallen there — sprung up at one time and 
declined at another. Small bands have shot out 
into great empires, spreading over regions like an 
epidemic, convulsing diseased political bodies with 
the poignancy of strychnine. Is there a law of 
nature in this? I think so. With humanity it 
is as with other living things on Grod's earth — 
there is slow but constant change. This law affects 
all matter, organic and inorganic, animal and vege- 
table. Amongst humanity, on the earth's surface, 
as with the elements, there are areas of stagnation 
and areas of activity. The basins of the Orinoco, 
the Amazon, the Niger, the White Nile, the Congo, 
the Ganges, the Irrawady, the Menan, and the Cam- 
bodia, with adjacent regions, are areas of human 
stagnation. Here the populations remain perma- 
nently in the lowest depths of degradation. Here 
the choke-damp of humanity stagnates the social 
system. Here do the mildew, fungi, and other 
excrescences of a fatal atmosphere abound. Here 
are lethargy, moral and physical prostration, pro- 
ducing deadness of feeling, out of which emanate 
the fungi of slavery and the mildew of polygamy ; 
the destroyers of sacred family ties, and the weak- 
eners of the human race. 

Toward the poles humanity also dies out ; but 
there are middle spaces where there are centres of 
activity, varying in space and in time with the 



270 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



spread and development of races. These centres, 
casting a glance at past history, have been in 
Greece, then in Medea; now in Macedonia, then 
in Eome ; now in Germany, then under the Atlas 
Mountains ; now in the steppes of Tartary, then 
on the plains of the Peiho ; now in Spain, then 
in Holland ; now in Great Britain, then in France ; 
now on the Potomac, then on the La Plata. These 
are some of the centres of activity — some of the 
most important. Here are the fecund nurseries 
of vigorous races ; hence, in their appointed time, 
they each have overflown and spread across the 
earth ; and now they do so, and will continue to do 
so. They flow, as colonizers, towards the rising and 
the setting sun ; and, as conquerors, they spread to- 
wards the vertical sun. As rivers, these streams 
of humanity flow on in tortuous paths ; for in their 
course they are obstructed by seas, mountains, and 
deserts ; yet they flow on to their destiny. To 
them the mountain-passes are but gaps, the stormy 
oceans but accustomed pathways. The swarms 
from the mother-nation, in their new arenas, rise 
into proud empires, and exist for their appointed 
period. I say that east and west nations spread 
as colonizers. This is because these regions rear 
and perpetuate a hardy and virtuous people, who 
know how to use liberty, and to support a govern- 
ment in a long and honourable career. But 
when they spread to the torrid zone, they go as 
conquerors ; for here the atmosphere enervates the 



THE MYSTERY. 



271 



sojourner. A feeble and demoralized people cannot 
of themselves maintain a strong government, just 
as an incoherent, feeble pedestal will not uphold 
a granite column. Their conquerors, therefore, to 
be powerful for good — their rulers, to exist for a 
time — must have never-failing resources from their 
parent nation. When this resource fails, then will 
the tropical empire break in pieces, and dissolve 
into an incoherent mass of anarchy and confusion. 

We now come to the question before us — are 
European governments, in the tropical East, exempt 
from the above influences ? Or do they, in them- 
selves, contain an antidote against the tendency 
to decay? Let us try and solve the problem in 
a plain and homely manner : — 

Sherard Osborn, when a lad, as I was at that 
time, lived, like myself, amongst the Malays ; and 
he asked a Malay's opinion of the Dutch. The 
Malay man, Jadee, said, — "The Hollanders have 
been the bane of the Malay race : no one knows 
the amount of villainy, the bloody cruelty of their 
system towards us. They drive us into our praws 
to escape their taxes and their laws, and then de- 
clare us to be pirates, and put us to death. There 
are natives in our crew, tuan (sir), of Sumatra, 
Java, of Banca and Borneo — ask them why they 
hate the Dutchman ? why they would kill a Dutch- 
man ? It is because the Dutchman is a false man ; 
not like the white man (meaning the Englishman). 
The Hollander stabs in the dark; he is a liar!" 



272 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

This is plain. Now I also knew Jadee, the Malay ; 
and I believe that he spoke his true feelings towards 
the Dutch, but that, in compliment to his young 
naval friend, he concealed his true feeling towards 
the English. In speaking to me of his own country- 
men, Jadee would have said, "If you meet a tiger, 
a serpent, and a white man in the jungle, kill the 
white man first," This is a household maxim 
amongst the Malays, of very ancient date; for it 
was applied to their old Hindoo conquerors, who 
came from beyond the Punjaub. And why don't 
they kill the Englishman, but obey him ? Simply 
for an Asiatic's reason, they are afraid to do so. 
It is fear that makes the natives of the East suc- 
cumb to their European masters ; and it is their 
lethargy that causes their obedience. The bonds 
between the Englishman and the Asiatic have 
little of love entwined with the many other cords 
that hold them together. 

Of the East India Company's government, 
Englishmen and Asiatics will judge from their 
own stand-points, and their decisions will not be 
mutually complimentary. From the days of Ku- 
blai Khan, the Grand Khan of all the Tartars, and 
long previous to his times, Asiatic governments 
have considered their chief end to be to extract 
tribute — and their subjects give them credit for no 
higher motives. They are accustomed to the screw, 
and so have a chronic hatred to all governments 
whatsoever. The chief end of Asiatic governments, 



THE MYSTEKY. 



273 



like many modern European ones, was to extend 
their influence as far as their navies and armies 
could reach, the motives being the same, viz., to 
keep their subjects in healthy activity, and to repress 
internal discord. But there was one difference be- 
tween the Asiatic government and the European 
government ; the former was too rude to indulge 
in sentimentalism — it had no " clap-trap " oratory 
suited to the old maiden ladies and the peace 
societies, in which the cries of " good of the 
people," " elevation of the natives," &c, had por- 
tentous though unmeaning and impractical sounds. 
The objects of Asiatic governments were straight- 
forward and blunt — they were " tribute " or " ex- 
termination." The natives of Asia understood this, 
and would give credit for nothing else ; so Kublai 
Khan and his congeners were content with their 
tribute, so long as they could get it. The eleva- 
tion of their conquered subjects would be the last 
thing to suggest itself. European governments, 
with all their pretensions, have done little more 
than Kublai Khan, and they are equally appre- 
ciated by the natives. This is a humiliating con- 
clusion, but I cannot ignore personal observation, 
however gratifying it would be to speak otherwise. 
Indeed the majority of the natives of Hindostan, 
being in an abject state of ignorance and super- 
stition, are accustomed to view Europeans in a 
more hideous manner than is generally suspected. 
It is the same with the natives beyond the Ganges. 

T 



274 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



I speak more particularly of those natives who 
know little personally of Europeans. It is those 
who judge of the white man by rumour, and these 
rumours, circulated over the evening meals, are not 
to his advantage. It is a weakness of Europeans 
to think they are loved because the natives look 
mild and obey. The foolish English sea-captain 
of my first volume, with his faithful Chinese con- 
victs, is an illustration of what I mean. We have 
had a native's opinion of the Dutch, our Bengal 
Sepoys have given us a practical illustration of 
their opinions of their quondam honourable mas- 
ters. The natives of the Philippines, though 
nominal Christians, are steeped in vice and super- 
stition — so occasionally make a general massacre 
of all white foreigners, to propitiate their evil 
spirits. They and the Bengal Sepoys are pro- 
pelled by the same instincts. In Cochin China 
the French — when few, weak, and useful — were 
caressed ; when they had grown strong in in- 
fluence, they were alternately tortured and mas- 
sacred. The causes were at bottom all analogous, 
though differing in details. This was also the 
case with the Dutch at Palembang, where the 
natives treacherously entrapped the whole of 
the European settlers, and mercilessly sank them 
in one watery grave. The motives were analo- 
gous. The cause of the Dutch, in 1811, was a 
sinking one, so their temporary weakness was 
taken advantage of to annihilate the white man. 



THE MYSTERY. 



275 



It will thus appear — if it has not done so before 
— that European governments in the East are not 
based on love and respect. What then? They 
are based simply on fear, which at times generates 
into a hatred so virulent that it is ever ready to 
burst forth with the force of an avalanche. This 
will take place whenever that opponent power, that 
sustaining element, the European arms, drawn from 
the distant temperate zone, may cease their per- 
petual flow towards the vertical sun. 

It must not be overlooked that wealthy, educated, 
and poor ignorant natives view Europeans differ- 
ently. On one point, and that is a very important 
one, viz., colour, their sympathies run in the same 
groove. The common sympathies of coloured men 
enlist them on great occasions against the white 
man ; but, as long as the white man leads to victory 
in war, or gain in mercantile adventure, these com- 
mon sympathies are obliterated for the time in their 
common love for loot (plunder) and wealth. Here 
they are apt allies, or humble instruments, to the 
white man. In these circumstances they are said, 
by the superficial observers, to be " faithful." 

The wealthy natives are by self-interest bound to 
strong governments, from whencesoever derived ; 
and, in a European government, they discern a power 
that will protect the wealth they have acquired. In 
a European government they also perceive a power 
that moves by law and that holds the life and chat- 
tels of a subject as objects of much anxiety and 

T 2 



278 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

great importance. These wealthy natives have not 
far to look around them to see the insecurity of life 
and property under weak, dissolute, and unprin- 
cipled Asiatic governments, under which their 
wealth would be a source of terror (so clearly de- 
monstrated in the preceding chapter by Abdulla). 
Under these governments, if they are not able to 
conceal their wealth, it dissipates in the payment of 
the exactions of the native princes and their re- 
tainers. In their intercourse with free Europeans 
of good education and position, they cannot avoid 
perceiving the advantages of the true liberty they 
enjoy ; and, above all, they will see, in the national 
laws and institutions brought from England, the 
scrupulous care bestowed on the person and privi- 
leges of the subject. This immense boon is so potent 
that it requires but little intelligence to appreciate 
it. The wealthy must appreciate it, and, in doing 
so, ignore their nationality and prejudices of colour, 
and bow to the white man's rule. 

But young Hindostan is not always guided by 
interest and good judgment. Wealth begets power, 
and power begets ambition in the sons of the rich. 
This circumstance draws them into political intrigue. 
Their narrow sphere gives them but imperfect 
knowledge of the power of Great Britain. In India, 
the policy of the East India Company was to reduce 
the numbers of the English to the minimum. Young 
Hindostan could not but discern this. The Eng- 
lish element was as a drop of oil in the sea. Added 



THE MYSTERY. 



277 



to this, the haughty civilian, by his supercilious 
bearing, would crush young Hindostan's self-im- 
portance ; and, worse than that, offend his vanity. 
Here would be humiliation, borne with apparent 
meekness, only to be the more nursed into gnawing 
hate. A revulsion of feeling takes root where re- 
spect might once have been implanted. The Southern 
Asiatic is a creature of passion, and he abandons all 
to nourish that passion, be it of love, hatred, or 
revenge. 

The poor of the Far East, as in other countries, 
be they intelligent, hate all stable governments. 
Their chance of promotion lies in anarchy and re- 
volution. The natives of Hindostan have a large 
proportion of their numbers who are both poor and 
intelligent, and so are a source of trouble to any 
government which may be over them. As long as 
they can be kept actively employed, their dangerous 
character ceases. It is in the calm times of peace 
that their energies for mischief are resuscitated. This 
class has nothing in common with the intelligent 
poor of Great Britain-— the industrious sons of toil, 
the vigorous, persevering labourer, weaver, me- 
chanic and handicraft man. The intelligent poor 
of the Far East hate labour, and ignore all useful 
pursuits. From this class was drawn the native 
army of Bengal.* 

But there was another class of poor in the wide 



* The Bombay and Madras native armies were of superior material. 



278 LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 

East India Company's dominions which out-numbered 
all the rest : these were the poor of the agricultural 
districts, a class steeped in the most abject ignorance, 
and prostration of intellect. These, as a class, were of 
little consequence, either for good or for evil. Their 
sole object was to vegetate, and avoid payments to 
support the state. They worked with the rudest 
implements. Their usefulness to themselves, or to 
society, was reduced to the lowest limits. Through 
this class rumours, wonders, and superstitions floated. 
Their minds were the receptacles of the most impro- 
bable and monstrous fictions. In riding, at only a 
few miles' distance from the European stations, the 
approach of an Englishman spread consternation 
amongst whole villages of these poor people — a 
proof at once of those floating rumours and mon- 
strous fictions — a proof that the East India govern- 
ment, as regarded the people, was but a name — a 
tinkling cymbal. The rumours were those of the 
Delhi moonshee of my first volume. 

By natives thus steeped in ignorance, poverty, 
and superstition, the European was looked upon as 
a demigod — as more than human. They were 
astonished and overcome by the European's intelli- 
gence, energy, and prowess. The being having these 
attributes, when friendly, was divine. The poor 
natives would prostrate themselves before him, 
humbly kiss his feet, and obey his every behest. 
The Sandwich Islanders beheld Captain Cook with 
the same feelings of respect and veneration. But 



THE MYSTERY. 



279 



extremes meet. A being with such supernatural 
powers might be a devil incarnate ; and with a super- 
stitious, ignorant multitude, it was an easy tran- 
sition to regard him as such. Hence the sudden 
change of feeling, originating in trivial causes — hence 
the intense antipathies shown by the natives of 
India towards Europeans, which have broken out at 
intervals, resulting in massacres and bloody tragedies. 

The rise of British power in India has had many 
features in it akin to the rise of Spanish power in 
Mexico and Peru. In both we perceive the same 
astonishing and rapid successes. The Spanish 
power had vitality for three centuries ; the British 
power in India has just attained manhood. To the 
origin of British power were attached the same crude 
measures which are to be observed as clinging to 
Spanish power, the most conspicuous of which were 
a monopoly — inordinate gifts and privileges to 
adventurers, leaders or companies. Thus the King 
of Spain granted to Columbus one-tenth of the profits 
of all countries discovered by him, besides the vice- 
royship by land and admiralship by sea. The 
government of England granted the monopoly of 
all profits to be extracted from 150 millions of people 
to a company of merchant adventurers.* The 
government of these merchant adventurers and their 
successors has been a standing wonder to the uni- 

* The original 101 merchant adventurers of the East India Company 
consisted of grocers, vintners, drapers, mercers, tailors haberdashers, 
cloth- workers, ironmongers, and skinners, one notary and one goldsmith. 



280 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



verse. Their deeds and actions have been more 
generally the subject of the most fulsome panegyric 
or of rabid detraction. There has been no me- 
dium of sentiment. The stability of their power 
was often doubted by the calm inquirer, but most 
fervently believed in by the participators in their 
golden harvests. 

My own humble reflection and limited obser- 
vation have led me to conclude that the East India 
Company's government of India was strong only so 
long as it was a revolutionizer, so long as it was an 
overturner of effete and spent kingdoms. The des- 
tiny of the East India Company was to topple over 
the shaky dynasties of the East, and they concluded 
their term of office by the subjugation of the Pun- 
jaub on one side, and Burmah on the other. What 
else could have happened? A grasping, ambitious 
corporation, armed with sovereign powers, sup- 
ported by the wealth of great Britain, maintained 
by the intelligence and intrepidity of her most 
adventurous sons, swayed human as well as me- 
chanical engines — aided by the most improved 
devices for warfare and destruction ! All the arts 
and appliances of civilization were freely at their 
disposal. What else could have taken place when 
these were let loose amongst a weak, enervated, and 
ignorant people ? But their work was merely the 
work of subjugation. After more than a century's 
strife, they had no more hold on the country than 
the military resources of Great Britain — so freely 



THE MYSTEKY. 



281 



at their disposal — gave them. On the completion of 
their conquest, came their real troubles. They 
had freely made use of the elements of disorder : 
how were those elements to be reduced to order? 
Had the East India Company's power being snuffed 
out at this period, what would India h ve gained 
while under their dominion? In the words of a 
writer in the Calcutta Review, " literally nothing !" 
The only monuments of English occupation would 
have been " Bass and Allsopp's " beer bottles strewed 
along the banks of the Ganges ! 

The East India Company's government was 
founded on false principles. They were not true to 
our higher nature, and therefore could not stand. 
Their motives were selfish — the Asiatic allies whom 
they enlisted in their cause were mercenaries. 
Their compact ignored religion, and avoided true 
morality. In the olden times of the last century, 
the servants and officers of the Company drank and 
fought at the same carousal ; the civilians kept 
harems, and the military entered the domestic circles 
of the Sepoys. This was a popular state of things, 
and quite agreeable to the manners and customs of 
the East. England was then far off and seldom to 
be returned to. Now as long as there were rich 
nabobs and effeminate diamond-covered rajahs to 
plunder, the compact between the white gentleman 
and the black soldier was as agreeable as it was 
binding — as affectionate as it was intimate. In those 
days the Christian missionary was interdicted, and 



282 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



had to fly for an asylum to Serampore, a Danish 
factory. The Pagan devotee, with his immolating 
rites, was honoured, and maintained, that the 
god of lucre might shower his gifts upon the 
Company ! 

But trouble gradually grew out of this ; it germi- 
nated from an obscure seedling till it rivalled the 
banian-tree. As things grew apace, and as gene- 
ration succeeded generation, changes gradually came 
over the scene. Recent times found Mahomedanism 
curbed and Brahminism questioned in their very 
holy cities. The Christian missionary walked abroad 
over the land. But what of this? Not much, if 
social relations had been the same. But the white 
lady had now gained access. Her virtuous influence 
had cast the mixed social relations in the dust. 
The European and Hindoo now walked apart, and 
scanned each other from a doubting distance. Con- 
fidence abated; mistrust began to creep into the middle 
space. The white lady rode and walked abroad. 
The Hindoo females of respectability remained 
veiled, covered, and enclosed. The white lady's 
conduct in Hindoo estimation was unbecoming. 
What then was said of her in the neighbourly 
gossip ? Eeturn, oh reader, to the chapter in the 
Delhi moonshee, and you may guess. The Com- 
pany's Sepoy of Plassy had now been supplanted 
by his grandchildren. These grandchildren recited 
the tales of their forefathers and extolled the deeds of 
Clive, and his white burra bahadoors. They com- 



THE MYSTBEY. 283 

pared the grandchildren of these white bahadoors 
and found they were men and not demi-Grods. 
Rightly or wrongly they maintained that the white 
officer had degenerated. This, to a small degree, 
might have been correct ; in the main it was false — 
the suggestion of a disaffected mind, With all these 
tendencies to weaken an originally unholy compact, 
the conquest of India, by the aid of the Bengal 
Sepoy, had been accomplished. The ease and idleness 
of profound peace gave them time to ruminate, criti- 
cise, and compare thoughts ; the result of which 
cogitations was that they found they had fought 
for the shadow, while the white man grasped the sub- 
stance. A caste, infinitely more honoured, powerful, 
and appreciated than any of their own, had risen to 
an unapproachable elevation above them. Now hatred 
grew out of mistrust, the more bitter because it was art- 
fully concealed, and fostered for ages. Here were surely 
causes sufficient to enlist the Indian against the 
Englishman ; here were causes sufficient to extinguish 
the internal dissensions of caste, religion, and trivial 
antipathies, and to combine the common sympathies 
of colour, against the foreign yoke ! 

In 1850 the Sepoy was observed to pass his 
white officer without moving a muscle — he ob- 
served all the outward signs of respect, while, in 
his inmost soul, the turmoil of implacable detesta- 
tion consumed his very vitals. He did his routine 
of dull duty with one end, that new revolution- 
izes would spring up and lead him to other scenes 



284 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



of excitement, plunder, and bloodshed. The Com- 
pany's work had been done. There were other 
arenas beyond the kala panee (ocean), but to these 
his caste forbade him to go. Such were the results 
of an unprincipled compact, in which there were 
neither the sympathies of a common religion nor a 
common nationality. Without these two great 
binding powers, which on earth hold mankind to- 
gether, it was natural that a merely mercenary con- 
cordance should end. Yet it was on the foundation 
of Sepoy fidelity that the blind old East India 
Company hoped to maintain and perpetuate their 
high privileges, in order that they might transmit 
them to their children and grandchildren. This 
was the "privileged" grocer's idea, and it came 
to grief. 

Experience in very modern times — not to go back 
to the extinction of Portuguese and French influence 
in the East — might have taught the inquirer a 
lesson. How fared it with the Dutch at the end 
of last, and the beginning of this present century ? 
In 1795 their out-settlements succumbed to the 
English; and in 1811 Java dissolved from their 
grasp, by the incursion of a few English and native 
regiments, sent from Bengal. The Dutch, though 
governing Java, had no root in it. The native ele- 
ments of disorder were ready for revolution, the 
native leaders welcomed a change of rulers, and 
another yoke, that it might chance to be a less 
galling one. As with the English East India 



THE MYSTERY. 



285 



Company, the stable and loyal European influence 
had been debarred entry — Christianity even was 
ignored, that Mahomedanism might not take um- 
brage. Had the English East India Company's 
government been subjected to the same trials as 
the Dutch, viz., — had they been cut off from com- 
munication with Great Britain, as the other was 
from Holland, their sway would have fallen as the 
child's house built of cards — a touch would have 
knocked it all to pieces. 

To the outward world the East India Company's 
government appeared to be the most gorgeous and 
brilliant on earth. Their brilliance was that of 
tinsel. Their traditional policy was to take 
advantage of the dissensions of Indian govern- 
ments, and to maintain their power by reason of 
the antipathies of the native races. Were these 
antipathies to be permanent ? Were these sources 
of weakness in the Hindoo to remain for ever ? 
No. The native differences sank as the white mans 
fortunes rose: then did Mahomedan and Hindoo 
amalgamate in the common cause against the 
English intruder. The various tendencies to 
change and revolution climaxed in the Sepoy 
rebellion of 1857, which shook British power in 
the East to the very centre. 

Had the Sepoy mutiny not precipitated the great 
trial of strength, there were other causes which 
would, sooner or later, have brought it on. It 
was not to be avoided. One important cause 



286 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



was the gradual rise of the natives in opulence, 
intelligence, and consequently, in influence and 
power. Another important cause was, the gradual 
impoverishment of the British merchants and set- 
tlers, which reduced their status and position. The 
East India Company's policy favoured these changes, 
which are easily explained. Their government 
being superior to any native one, gave security to 
person and property ; internal trade increased, and 
landed and house-property rose in value. Of these 
advantages the natives were almost the sole par- 
takers ; for European settlement was prohibited. 
Land could not be bought nor English capital invested. 
It was the same with external trade, over which a 
great change took place between the years 1830 and 
1850. At the former period English owners and 
English captains were to be seen in every ship ; at 
the latter period the owners were mostly natives, 
and the captains had degenerated into care-worn, 
badly-paid, English navigators, who had neither 
interest in the ship nor in the trade. The East India 
Company's anti-English policy opened the avenues 
of wealth to the Hindoo, and impoverished their 
own countrymen. At the latter period every 
country ship carrying the English flag had a native 
supercargo on board, who was the real captain : the 
English navigator had sunk to be the Indian's 
humble servant. 

The above circumstances, coupled with the exces- 
sive care in arming and disciplining a huge native 



THE MYSTERY. 



287 



army, would ultimately have led to revolution ; for 
England had not taken root in India. Broad India, 
under the Company's dominion, allowed an English- 
man no resting-place but a grave. He had no per- 
manent abode, no fixture, even were he to clear the 
forest, or embank the sea-shore. English influence 
was deadened. The English, as a body politic, were 
a nonentity. Under the circumstances, was this a 
loss to India ? I think so. The East India Com- 
pany having conquered all the lands from the 
Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and from the Indus 
to the Tenasserim, the excitement of conquest was 
over : what other sphere, then, of labour and ex- 
ertion for their native subjects was there to keep 
their state healthy, vigorous, and sound ? There 
were those of public works, plantations, and agriculture : 
and how were these to be made available to curb 
the discontent of idleness, but by the introduction 
of British capital and intelligence ? Without these 
new elements of healthy activity the East India 
Company's empire was as the dream of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, interpreted by Daniel, — " Thou King sawest 
and beheld a great image. This great image, whose 
brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the 
form thereof was terrible. This image's head was 
of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his 
belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his 
feet part of iron and part of clay." The super- 
structure of the East India Company's empire was 
brilliant, but the basis was of loose, incoherent 



288 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



materials, and it was only upheld by the long steel 
arm of Old England, stretched out over the Eed Sea 
to support its tottering structure. 

It had long been apparent to many men that the 
East India's Company's government was behind the 
times. Its men in power were mere official em- 
ployes, personally interested in preventing necessary 
and especially radical change. They were conse- 
quently blind and intractable in upholding a tra- 
ditional but long- exploded policy. An infatuation 
in their prestige misled them, and a total absence of 
familiar contact with the natives kept them in 
ignorance of the signs of the times. Mr. EL Russell 
mentions a curious fact of an old colonel of a dis- 
banded regiment declaring his profound faith in his 
Sepoys, notwithstanding the horrible atrocities com- 
mitted by them. There was much of the Sepoy 
colonel in the Company's government of India, 
much of that " idiotic idiosyncrasy " to prove how 
incapable they had become to rule a great depen- 
dency of England's crown. Their unbending and 
uncompromising spirit disgusted both Europeans and 
natives. Such a spirit, bounded by the narrow limits 
of self-aggrandizement, had not the all-pervading 
humanity and intelligence required to govern an 
empire composed of divers people, faiths, and 
tongues. 

Notwithstanding all this, the East India Com- 
pany's Directors, true to their narrow instincts, 
petitioned to be continued in power. They repre- 



THE MYSTERY. 



289 



sented to the British Parliament " their past services 
and their exertions for the benefit of India." In 
this great tribunal of the British people there was 
no echo to their prayer, for the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer moved the following sentence in reply, a 
sentence fraught with great results to millions, viz., 
" that it was expedient to transfer the government 
of India to the Crown." Thus was the mysterious 
power that ruled the Far East extinguished ; thus 
did a mightier power claim its prerogative, a power 
that is strong enough to act justly, a power high 
enougli to act benignantiy, a power expansive enough 
to allow of reform — equitable and judicious change. 

The great mercantile corporation had finished its 
task. To have retained it in the national service 
would have been to have laid upon it greater func- 
tions, higher responsibilities than its confined intel- 
lect could grasp. These functions and responsibilities 
appertained to a great empire ; so the governing 
body must needs be imbued with prescience almost 
divine, aspirations most noble, discernment most 
acute, disinterestedness universal. The close cor- 
poration blindly sought to curb the course of nature, 
to check the outpour of humanity over the surface 
of the globe, to stem the current that had begun to 
flow from its great modern centre in the far north, 
urging its course towards the vertical sun. In this 
attempt the mighty corporation opposed nature, but 
the torrent burst forth, and dire were the events 
that accompanied their overthrow. 

u 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 

M'Culloch, in his " Commercial Diction ary," gives 
some cautious hints regarding the connection of 
Great Britain with India. That authority says : 
" Considerable obstacles were long thrown in the 
way of Europeans establishing themselves in India, 
and particularly of their acquiring or holding land. 
This policy was dictated by several considerations, 
partly by a wish to prevent the extrusion of the 
natives from the soil which it was supposed would 
be eagerly bought up by Europeans, and partly by 
the few, lest the latter, when scattered over the 
country, and released from any effectual control, 
should offend the prejudices of the natives, and get 
embroiled with them. Now, however, it seems to be 
the general opinion of those best acquainted with 
India, that but little danger is to be apprehended 
from these circumstances ; that the few Europeans 
established in it as indigo-planters, &c, have con- 
tributed very materially to its improvement ; and 
that the increase and diffusion of the English popu- 
lation, and their permanent settlement in the coun- 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 



291 



try, are at once the most likely means of spreading 
a knowledge of our arts and sciences, and of widen- 
ing and strengthening the foundations of our ascend- 
ency. It is obvious, indeed, that the duration of 
our power in India must depend on a very uncertain 
tenure, unless we take root, as it were, in the soil, 
and a considerable portion of the population be 
attached to us by the ties of kindred, and of common 
interests and sympathies. In this respect we should 
imitate the Roman in preference to the Lacede- 
monian, or Athenian policy." 

This is plain common sense. Our authority -con- 
tinues : — " A great deal of conflicting evidence was 
given before the parliamentary committees in 1832 
and ] 833, as to the real state of the Indian army, 
and the degree of dependence to be placed on it. 
But none could have anticipated the entire, or all 
but entire, defection of the Bengal native army, and 
the bloodshed and calamities by which it has been 
followed. A radical change will now, no doubt, be 
effected in the constitution and government of the 
native troops kept on foot in India. But, however 
modified, if we wish to retain possession of the 
country, we must in future depend less on them 
and more on the European force distributed over its 
surface. 

Two systems are open to us, on either of which 
we may attempt permanently to establish our 
power in India, viz. ; first, by maintaining the laws 
and customs, and outwardly respecting the religious 

u 2 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and other prejudices of the natives ; and, secondly, 
by vigorously labouring to subvert all these, and to 
effect a moral and religious revolution, by in as far 
as possible Anglicizing the country. We have 
hitherto acted on the first of these plans, and 
though its results have not certainly been of the 
most satisfactory description, it is the safest and 
most economical, and most in accordance with the 
tolerant spirit of the age ; and it might in the course 
of centuries, if our ascendency were so far prolonged, 
lead to nearly the same results as the second. The 
latter, however, provided it were skilfully conducted, 
and that we were prepared to maintain a force in 
India adequate to suppress any disturbance that 
might take place, particularly at the outset of the 
plan, would accomplish its object in a much shorter 
period, and would probably be in the end the best 
for all parties, and more especially for the natives." 

Here commercial M'Culloch is evidently out of 
his element. As our friend Thomas Carlyle says, 
we must not 6 'reduce the infinite celestial soul of 
man to a kind of hay-balance. £. s. d. will not do 
it, and the ' sword or the faith policy ' is contrary 
to England's genius." M'Culloch's idea of Angli- 
cizing the natives is a very common and popular 
one, though crude and wayward in its effects. I 
have only known of one black man having been at- 
tempted to be made white, as related in my first 
volume. The idea emanates, on the whole, from 
humane sentiments, but also from not a little per- 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 293 

sonal vanity and conceit. To Anglicize an Indian, 
as Abdulla informs us, is a process much abhorred 
by the subjects of the process themselves, and 
practisers of the art have found themselves baffled 
in a most perplexing manner. I have known of an 
engineer so intent upon M'Culloch's process that 
he would make the tall meagre Bengalee into an 
English navvy : with this view he supplied all his 
Coolies with wheelbarrows ; but on his visiting his 
earthworks, he was no doubt much edified by seeing 
all the wheelbarrows being borne on the heads of his 
Indian labourers. They had not bottom to push 
the strange contrivance before them. Another 
engineer, bent on Anglicizing, had his workshops 
fitted up with benches, and English tools and 
equipments complete ; but, to his surprise, he found 
the objects of his experiment perched on the tops of 
the benches, under the impression that the benches 
were to sit upon. To stand and push at their work 
was contrary to their constitution of body. They 
had neither bottom nor strength of muscle to be 
Englishmen.* 

To Anglicize an Indian is more difficult than 
M'Culloch seems to have imagined : the experiments 
have been many in all departments — religious and 
profane. The labours of the missionary have been 

* Again, the attempts of natives to become English at the same time 
take strange freaks; thus the Rajah of Borneo, in his desire to entertain 
his English guests in a manner suitable to their civilization, elevated our 
under-bed crockery to the office of soup-tureens ! 



294 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



thwarted — the training of the soldier has miscarried — 
the measures of the statesmen have been swamped. 
What nature has made different, it is difficult to assi- 
milate. If the English themselves degenerate in the 
climate of India, then it would appear a hopeless 
process to elevate, in that climate, an Indian into 
an Englishman. As I have shown in my chapter 
on " Christian Missionaries," in regard to spiritual 
benefit, any real or permanent good to the temporal 
welfare of India must be by a constant influx of 
British blood — by the constant influx of the princi- 
ples appertaining to well-regulated society. 

Our author next touches on the advantages of 
India to England ; and says, " The popular opinions 
in regard to the vast advantages derived by England 
from the government of India are as fallacious as 
can well be imagined. It is doubtful, indeed, 
whether its advantages compensate for its disadvan- 
tages. India never has been and never can be a 
field for the resort of ordinary emigrants. It has, 
it is true, furnished an outlet for considerable num- 
bers of well-educated young men of the middle 
classes ; but the fortunes of those who return to 
spend the evening of their days in England are far 
short of compensating for the outlay on themselves, 
and in those who die in the service. And there is 
but little ground to think that the legitimate trade 
we carry on with India is greater than it would have 
been had it continued subject to its native rulers ; 
neither is it by any means improbable that the 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 



295 



large public debt of India will in the end have to be 
partially or wholly provided for by this country. 

" We may natter our vanity by dwelling on the 
high destiny and glory of providing for the regene- 
ration and well-being of 180 millions of human 
beings ; but we have yet to learn whether this be 
not an undertaking that is greatly beyond our 
means, and whether, in attempting to elevate a de- 
based and enervated race (supposing that we really 
make such an attempt 12,000 miles from our 
shores), we may not be sapping the foundations of 
our own power and greatness. 

" Nothing during the recent outbreak has been 
more extraordinary than the fact of its having 
failed to bring forward a single native chief of 
talent. In every contest the inferiority even of 
the best-drilled Sepoys, when brought face to face 
with Europeans, has been most striking. No su- 
periority of numbers gave them a chance of success. 
They continue to be precisely what they were at 
Plassy and Ass aye." 

Thus in M'Culloch's opinion, a hundred years' 
occupation of India by the East India Company's 
government has not elevated the moral and phy- 
sical standard of the Hindoo, and in the mutual 
advantages of the connection he has not much 
faith. Let us see what hopes there are under the 
new regime. 

A Eoyal Proclamation was published by the 
Governor-General of India, on the 1st Nov. 1858, 



296 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



and which called forth several native addresses to the 
Queen, expressive of their loyalty and attachment. 

<c In this Proclamation (see History of England 
by Macfarlane and Thomson) it was announced to the 
native princes of India that all engagements which 
had been made with them by the Company would 
be scrupulously maintained and fulfilled ; that no 
extension of territorial possession was sought, and 
that no aggression upon it should be tolerated, or 
encroachment upon that of others sanctioned. It 
held itself bound to the natives of our Indian terri- 
tories by the same obligations of duty which bound 
it to all other subjects of the British empire. 
Upon the important subject of religion, in which 
the rebellion had originated, the declaration was 
explicit : — ' Firmly relying ourselves on the truth 
of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude 
the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right 
and desire to impose our convictions on any of our 
subjects. We declare it to be our Royal will and 
pleasure that none be in anywise favoured, none 
molested or disquieted by reason of their religious 
faith and observances ; but that all shall alike enjoy 
the equal and impartial protection of the law. And 
we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may 
be in authority under us, that they abstain from all 
interference with the religious belief or worship of 
any of our subjects on pain of our highest displea- 
sure.' It was added, that all, of whatever call or 
creed, are to be freely and impartially admitted to 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 



297 



such offices in her Majesty's service as they were 
qualified to hold." "Who will deny that the above 
august sentiments were not worthy alike of the 
greatest sovereign in the world, and of the wide 
interests they affected ? 

Let us follow from the distance the development 
of events, though it be by snatches and glimpses. 
The first great consecutive measure (in my very 
humble opinion) was the mission of Wilson the 
financier, who died; the second, that of his successor, 
Laing. In this measure England did right in send- 
ing out men of solid business-habits— men whose 
minds were elevated by a life's training to a percep- 
tion of the world-wide influences of Great Britain's 
politics — men who could weigh the mighty details so 
as to harmonize the huge jarring machinery. 

A development of Mr. Laing's principles of 
government was drawn forth by an address to 
him from the merchants of Calcutta. In his reply 
he stated as follows : — "It is my deep conviction 
that the welfare of India depends mainly on the 
observance of three principles, which were the main- 
spring of the policy of Lord Canning's government 
during the time I had the honour of a seat in it. 

"1st. That India must be governed for the good 
of India : in other words, that the national, moral, 
and intellectual improvement of the 150,000,000 of 
native population, and a fair regard for their 
national wishes, feelings, and usages, must be the 
primary object of Indian government. 



298 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



" 2nd. That the encouragement of independent 
European capital and enterprise — in order to open 
the communications, develop the resources, and 
cultivate the waste land of India — is of vital import- 
ance as the most powerful means of raising wages, 
cheapening capital, increasing exports, and generally 
accelerating the interior improvement of the masses 
of the native population. 

" 3rd. That these results, and generally the bless- 
ings of a good government satisfactory to India, 
are to be attained on one condition, viz., that the 
government of India should be in India. I mean in 
the local authorities controlled by the local govern- 
ments — in the local governments controlled by 
the Governor-General in council — and in the Gover- 
nor-General in council controlled, in large and national 
matters, by the English government, and not in any 
distant centralized bureau, whether it be in Calcutta? 
ruling Madras and Bombay in detail, or, still worse^ 
8,000 miles off, in Westminster, subjecting Madras, 
Bombay, and Calcutta alike to the minute super- 
vision and influence of an authority destitute of 
that local experience and inaccessible to those influ- 
ences of public opinion which are the first essential 
conditions of all good government." 

Liberal, just, nay, cautious as the above noble 
sentiments may appear to those of Indian experience, 
from Mr. Laing's speech, we infer that his motives 
had been much traduced — his opinions much under- 
valued. It requires a large brain to comprehend 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 299 



that the principles above enunciated are those 
alone bearing advantages to England as well as 
India. On these principles alone can the Anglo- 
Indian connection be lasting, binding, and amicable. 
Mr. Laing adds — " But the people of England do not 
know this ; their instincts are always generous, and, 
even when opposed to their own interests, they are 
determined that wrong shall not be done to the 
native millions of India, Hence they are easily led 
by those who style themselves Indian authorities, 
on the strength of unmeasured denunciation of 
European interlopers, and professions of extreme 
tenderness for the native population." 

Here it is apparent how early the acute mind 
of an English politician detected the flimsy phil- 
anthrophy of the scions of the selfish commercial 
oligarchy. To unbiassed and disinterested minds 
(such as those of Laing, the British statesman), 
devoted to elaborate a scheme of Anglo-Indian 
government, the suggestions of local experience 
may now be laid open, without fear of entire con- 
tempt and obscurity. Wise men weigh even trivial 
matters. 

To my limited vision, it appears that as England 
has got India, and as great interests have grown up 
under the connection, she must keep what she has got 
at all hazards. Her conquests have laid on her 
great responsibilities, viz., the welfare of a great 
empire. In the meeting of these responsibilities a 
very prevailing sentiment in the thoughtful of the 



300 



LIFE IN THE FAK EAST. 



British public is, that the natives should be elevated. 
The desire proceeds from most amiable motives, 
but the ends sought are as varied and contradictory 
as can be imagined. The different members of the 
British public judge from their own stand-points. 
6 'Bass andAllsopp" and their draymen would in their 
practice appear to think that the elevation of the 
race consisted in a good supply of ale, " Martell " in 
a good supply of brandy, " Hoffman " in no end of 
jams. The ladies of fashion, in their elevating pro- 
pensities, would dress their dark sisters in the bulky 
crinoline — would teach them to dance the polka — 
to croquet with their Baboo's rich neighbour, and 
do no harm — like Christians. To sober-minded 
observers, English stimulants, whether bodily or 
mental, are unsuited to the tropical constitution. 
The phlegmatic temperament, the frigid chasteness 
of the north, may indulge without injury in that 
which to the feeble passionate creature of the tropics 
would be destruction. Nature has arranged human 
matters in this world in the order that no man can 
undertake to displace. Conditions of men may be 
ameliorated, but not radically altered. If the Supreme 
Buler of nature has made the Indian so, it is cer- 
tainly not England's mission to alter the order of 
nature. The work of her missionaries and politicians 
is to ameliorate and improve the moral and physical 
condition of the people. If their ambition be 
greater than this, their exertions will be of none 
effect. 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 301 



Having already written of England's Christian 
mission, I will now confine myself to England's 
political mission. I will try to view the subject on 
its broadest basis. It is evident where two countries 
exist in different climates the productions of one will 
not be cultivable in the other ; so, for the use of 
mankind, an interchange of products is necessary. 
These products may be mental or material. Then 
how can England and India be useful to each other ? 
By the interchange of these products, mental and 
material. England has educated intelligence. It is 
well for India to avail herself of this, to sway her 
councils, to direct her commerce, her communi- 
cations, her cultivations, her internal improvements. 
England has energy. It is well for India that she 
avails herself of this, to guard her borders, to develop 
her latent resources, and to initiate new sources of 
enterprise. England has overflowing capital. It is 
well for India to avail herself of this, to employ her 
starving multitudes — to increase their means and 
personal comforts — to raise their remuneration, and so 
ameliorate their condition, that they may be con- 
tented and happy with abundance of free and health- 
ful employment. England has her iron-wares, her 
machinery, her ingenious contrivances for assisting 
labour, and increasing production. India should 
avail herself of all these, that her monied men and 
landholders may increase their incomes, and so 
ameliorate the condition of themselves and families. 

And if India would have all these — if she sees 



302 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



there is a necessity for them — then will she welcome 
the white man within her borders and the white 
woman within her precincts. For all these, to be 
useful, or productive of good to the millions, must 
be directed by the skilled energetic mind of the 
Englishman. India must adopt the Englishman as 
a countryman, and allow him to participate in the 
benefits which flow from his intelligence, energy, 
and capital. While I say countryman, I do not for- 
get that India is not one country, but a conglomera- 
tion of divers nations, languages, and tribes, having 
in all cases (excepting one very unusual case) no 
common sympathies with each other. The rule of 
the Englishman is strong, insures peace, and permits 
the safe introduction of capital. Without this rule 
of the Englishman no great good work could be per- 
manently established. 

And how can India be useful to England in 
return? India overflows with native labour and 
raw produce. She can grow sugar, indigo, cotton, 
and other tropical products to an unlimited extent ; 
with England's capital and intelligence, her prodigi- 
ous manual-labour power would rear products essen- 
tial to England's prosperity. In these industries 
alone will India be abundantly beneficial to England, 
in two ways — she will give employment to her 
cotton-mills, printing establishments, and manu- 
factories in Great Britain, while she will, at the 
same time, give employment to the numerous intel- 
ligent youths (sons of the middle classes) in Hin- 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 



303 



dostan. These youths will she also require, to an 
unlimited extent, in her civil and military services. 
The Anglo-Indian connection is unbounded in its 
sphere of usefulness to both, if properly and judici- 
ously made use of. 

And how is this connection, so mutually beneficial, 
to be perpetuated ? By one mode only, by the 
settlement of respectable British planters in India ; 
they must have root in the soil, otherwise England's 
grasp must fail. As long as England is unperplexed 
by European wars, her grasp may be firm ; but once 
the connection were broken for a time, her hold would 
be precarious without this internal patriotic stay. 
England may build strong forts all over Hindostan, 
she may construct railways and telegraphs, but, 
without those peaceful redoubts — the planter s esta- 
blishments — she will always be " foreign " to the 
people, unknown to their hearths, and beyond the 
pale of their affections. With a debased people, to be 
unknown is to be hated and abhorred. A planter's 
establishment completes the link between the 
government and the people. The planter diffuses 
intelligence, gives employment, creates confidence, 
dissipates prejudice, and maintains respect. His 
many services amongst the population create an 
influence which it is difficult to uproot. The Eng- 
lish planter in India must of necessity always be 
well affected to his Queen and country ; for even let 
him lose his national sympathies (which I think im- 
possible), his general intelligence would make him 



304 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



aware that it is only British rule that preserves 
India from universal anarchy, and his own property 
from destruction. 

The fear of the English was a bugbear to the 
old East India Company. This fear it has proved 
difficult to explode from the public mind of England. 
Fortunately we have both old and modern examples 
of the value of actual European settlement in the 
East Indies to appeal to. We have the example of 
the old Dutch landholders of the ancient territory 
of Malacca, and the modern example of the English 
landholders of Ceylon and Penang, Being person- 
ally well acquainted with the history of all these, 
and personally experienced in the same, I can speak 
to the strong influence for good which these landholders 
have exercised upon the relations of the natives with 
their European governments — in their valuable sup- 
port of peace and order, and their unwavering 
loyalty to the European powers. This was most 
remarkably exemplified by the country-born Dutch 
proprietors of the territory of Malacca on several 
very trying occasions. Nor was there ever a more 
peaceful or easily-governed country in the world 
than the population under their influence. Ceylon 
has been a highly peaceful and easily-governed terri- 
tory since European planters had access to it. The 
contrary was the case previous to this. It is clearly 
the interest of both England and India that the 
European element should be introduced. 

The mode of tenure should be freehold ; without 



THE ANGLO-INDIAN CONNECTION. 305 



this there would be little heart in the work. The 
system of settling should be under judicious control 
and arrangement. What is called in the Colonies 
the " spotting" system — that is, selection before 
survey — should be most rigidly refused. This sys- 
tem would inevitably lead to difficulties and law 
disputes. All lands should be surveyed and marked 
on the ground prior to sale, and the acreage of 
sections should be limited, so as to prevent too much 
straggling. But these suggestions are out of place, 
as the principle of European settlement once ad- 
mitted, local circumstances must direct the details. 



x 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SERVICE REFORM. 

When the Directors of the East India Company's 
government possessed the patronage of the closed 
service, it was not uncommon to see a grocer's or 
vintner's son of precocious years enjoying his 
2,000/. to 5,000/. sterling per annum. When I was 
in India, the members of this delectable closed service 
might number 800 individuals, whose salaries 
ranged from 1,000/. to 10,000/. sterling per annum. 
A scion of this service, even before he did anything, 
was maintained, at public expense, with an allowance 
of 350/. per annum. Twenty years ago I have met 
some of these privileged government employes 
who did not know when to sound their /i's ; but 
Haileybury remedied this. This was the greatest 
service that Haileybury performed for India : with- 
out much chance of controversion, it might be 
asserted that the services of 3,200 well-educated 
and respectable Englishmen could have been com- 
manded for the annual amount disbursed to these 
Indian employes. Thus the closed service perpetrated 



SERVICE REFORM. 



307 



not only a gross injustice to India, but there was a 
great loss in the system to the papas and mammas 
of all England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

During the continuance of the closed civil service 
India may be truly said to have been " occupied " as 
Paris was by the allies ; but it was not governed. In 
the civil government of India, the necessity for 
European agency was a crying necessity, but the 
closed service ate up all the funds that might have 
procured this. At length, as a prop to the privi- 
leges of the closed civil service, the native army 
was denuded of its European officers ; it became dis- 
organized, and we all know the results. 

A closed service having been deemed by the home 
authorities good for India, it was difficult to remove 
the hallucination ; and, though Haileybury was 
condemned, and its tenants disbanded, yet a closed 
service had traditions connected with it. It had 
the mouldering prestige of half a century to retard 
the warning of its repute. The new regime, abhor- 
ring radical changes, hit upon a new expedient which 
it was thought would meet all difficulties. By 
this expedient it was thought that the " high tone " 
(supercilious?) " proud position" (vain?) of the 
Indian civil service would be perpetuated, while 
obnoxious nomineeism would be got rid of. The 
statesmen were to denude themselves of all influence 
in appointing the machinery of a government for 
which they are responsible, and the prizes of the 
service were to be restricted to the studious booh- 



308 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



worms of all England, Scotland, and Ireland. The 
principles on which the authorities proceeded may 
be profound, but certainly they are not very lucid 
to the more obtuse of Her Majesty's subjects. The 
peculiar claims of that particular class of Her 
Majesty's subjects called bookworms to be tax- m 
gatherers, opium-scrapers, salt-collectors, and money- 
hoarders, are not very apparent. A bookworm 
may be a poet, and a poet may be an exciseman ; (I 
have heard that one of Britain's most honoured poets 
was an exciseman) j but the functions of poet and 
exciseman were said, by public opinion, to be irre- 
concilable : the real incongruity was in the pay. 
The exciseman of England had 601. a year, the 
exciseman of India 6,000£. a year, — a reconciliation 
most agreeable. The real question appears to be — 
why are the bookworms of England the most deserv- 
ing of all classes for 6,000/. a year ? The answer 
to this question has been, that a few years' expe- 
rience has proved the bookworm's superiority to the 
Haileybury boy's. 

This may be very true ; but, seeing that Hailey- 
bury boys were born independent of all sublunary 
influences, they had no stimulus to excel, neither 
cause for thought, nor exertion, and so might easily 
be surpassed by mediocrity. 

The monopoly of the studious bookworms is not 
so new a feature in government services as one 
would imagine : the system is as old as the hills 
in Chinese political economy. This system pro- 



SERVICE REFORM. 309 

duced the Lins and the Yeos, whose refined and 
philanthropic views were exhibited in the agreeable 
pastime of cutting off 1000 heads per diem. It is 
not above five or six years ago that the government 
of the close monopoly of India climaxed in similar 
measures. One would have thought that we had 
had enough of monopoly to have avoided the mo- 
nopoly of the bookworm. 

But great governments proceed with reform 
cautiously, and by degrees, so we accept the change 
as one step in the right direction, — a change from 
the privileged dolt to the privileged bookworm. 
But we humbly opine that, in principle, they are 
the same, and their tendencies are to one end. The 
system elevates bookworms into a caste, which is 
obnoxious to the first principles of British social 
economy. The system has neither the nobility of 
birth nor of intelligence to recommend it. It 
merely perpetuates the Great Indian evil. It intro- 
duces caste prejudices amongst equals in birth and 
education, A young man may be distinguished 
in many honourable professions without being a 
bookworm. Young Englishmen of spirit can never 
brook the haughty, supercilious tone induced by 
the caste institution in the companion of his 
school days. Caste is an institution abhorrent to 
all English freemen. When the good sense of old 
England is brought to bear on the question, the 
institution must give way to sounder principles of 
official promotion. Youths may be studious book- 



310 



LIFE IN THE FAR EAST. 



worms, without being either intelligent or judicious. 
A youth may stand cramming better than his neigh- 
bour, and yet be as stupid as a crammed turkey. 
The crammed bookworm may not grow into the 
virtuous persevering upright man, then why assign 
to him the monopoly of all wealth, power, and 
honour ? 

" But," say the supporters of Anglo-Indian 
caste, " to whom can we assign the enormous 
Indian patronage ?" There would be objections, 
for several reasons which will not be gone into here, 
against handing this over to the ministers of the 
Crown. We have often heard this question asked 
in India, and would reply to it by saying, " if 
England be not honest enough to dispense this 
patronage, then give it to the different local govern- 
ments of India ; and, above all, to make the patron- 
age less destructive to the dispensers, let England 
part with her sons at their market value, in which 
case the misdirection of patronage need not be 
feared. The government of India is too much cen- 
tralized. Create more local governments ; these 
might then be safely trusted with the selection of 
their servants at market rates. England would 
lose nothing by this reform 5 for if India is to be 
held, it must be well governed. So the more of 
British energy and intelligence you can spare to 
her, the more secure will be your influence. The 
principle being admitted, details will arrange them- 
selves. 



SERVICE REFORM. 



311 



India, under the closed system of government, 
was overgrown with old-fogy ism, stale routine, and 
sacred exclusion. This should give place to a new 
order of things, which would admit of trained and 
experienced men in their various callings and pro- 
fessions, being engaged for particular services as 
required. The cry against " interlopers " should be 
put down as un-English, as illiberal, and behind 
the age. In exercising this discretion, the local 
councils would not act without necessity, nor call 
for home-agency when they had competent men at 
hand. The time-honoured idea that the old spent 
man, the oldest servant, the man longest under the 
enervating influences of climate, should have the 
highest emoluments ought to be exploded, and 
fresh talent should be engaged where public interest 
requires it. While we suggest this infringement 
on service privileges, we would, at the same time, 
urge a liberal dealing with the youths and gentle- 
men of the various services, in giving them facilities 
for visiting Europe, for the purpose of improving 
their experience, and widening the area of their 
observation. This, if taken advantage of by them- 
selves, would place them in possession of acquire- 
ments superior to exterior aid, and qualify them for 
the higher and more responsible duties of their 
departments. It is between the ages of twenty and 
thirty that a man either makes or undoes himself — 
it is during this time that his peculiar talents or 
deficiencies develop themselves, so his promotion 



312 



LIFE IN THE FAE EAST. 



to the higher grade should depend on the exertions 
of this period of life. Under the East India Com- 
pany's system a bad penny, once nominated, rose in 
spite of himself. This was a real injustice to India. 
The engagements of young men for the civil service 
should not bind the state in this manner ; but the 
higher grades should only be attainable by fitness 
and qualifications. The patronage of the higher 
step should fairly be placed in the hands of the 
local councils under certain regulations. 

In regard to native officials the Queen's Procla- 
mation is most distinct ; by that Proclamation all 
races and creeds are to be freely and impartially 
admitted to such offices in Her Majesty's service 
as they are qualified to hold. This is just, liberal, 
plain, and noble. The black man may qualify him- 
self to hold any office. There is to be no distinc- 
tion of colour. Very good. True in principle. 
Just in every sense. The debased, the sensual, the 
idle, the effeminate, the habitual liar, are, by the 
Queen's Proclamation, not to be admitted ; but the 
elevated, the virtuous, the active, the energetic and 
the truthful, are to be admitted. On these common 
grounds Englishmen and Indians are to be on the 
same terms. These principles are to be ignored by 
neither one nor the other. What do European 
parents in India do with their children? They 
send them at a tender age away from India that 
they may not inhale the vices and weaknesses 
brought on by the climate. So must the solicitous 



SERVICE REFORM. 



313 



Indian parent do if he would wish his children to 
possess the qualifications necessary to take advan- 
tage of the Queen's Proclamation. Without this 
sacrifice his children can never rise and compete 
with the white man in obtaining positions of re- 
sponsibility. His children must be sent to a cold 
climate, to be reared amongst an energetic and 
vigorous people, whom he will learn to imitate, 
and so equal or excel. So qualified, the son of an 
Indian may justly claim the privileges granted by 
Her Majesty's Proclamation. An Indian, so reared, 
may possess all the qualities of the white man, 
whether in energy, intelligence, or uprightness; 
and possessing these, his affection to our Sovereign 
Lady's empire need not be doubted. All intelli- 
gent men must see that the good government of 
India is necessary to England. This being ad- 
mitted, then these results will follow — the know- 
ledge of a true religion will surely be imparted to 
our fellow- subjects of the Par East ; a pure morality 
will be exemplified ; a benign influence will grow, 
surely, though by slow degrees. 

This will go on until England's decline — and 
may that be far, far hence — in future ages ! 



LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 

AND CHARING CROSS. 

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